IBB 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


HEROES  op 


BY 


MARTHA    BURR   BANKS, 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  CHILDREN'S  SUMMER,"  "  RICHARD  AND  ROBIN," 

ETC. 


YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  MISSIONARY  MOVEMENT 

NEW    YORK 


COPYRIGHT,  1896, 
BY  AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY, 


.36*7  " 


GONTRNTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Society  Islands:  A  Night  of  Toil PAGE      > 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Hervey  Islands:   A  Brave  Discoverer 25 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Samoan  Islands:   Over  the  Sea  to  Samoa 43 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Samoan  and  Loyalty  Islands:   The  Captain's  Last  Voy- 
age   56 

CHAPTER  V. 

New   Zealand  and  the  Friendly  Islands:   Islands  Unworthy 

of  their  Name 71 

CHAPTER  VI. 

New   Zealand   and   the   Melanesian   Mission:     Two   College 

Athletes 86 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Melanesian  Mission:   The  Bishop  and  the  Boys 97 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Fiji  Islands:   The  People  and  the  Lotu 108 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Fiji  Islands:   Cannibals  Changed  to  Christians 118 


1-118530 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  New  Hebrides:   Little  Johnnie  Geddie 128 

CHAPTER  XI. 
The  New  Hebrides:  The  Man  Who  Dug  the  Well 146 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Sandwich  Islands:   A  Country  Opened  by  a  Boy 163 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Micronesia:   The  "  Little  Islands  " 181 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  Land  of  the  "Crisp-Haired" 199 

CHAPTER  XV. 
"God's  Men"  in  New  Guinea 209 


PREFACE. 


FOR  the  material  found  in  this  volume  the 
writer  is  indebted  to  "The  Encyclopaedia  of 
Missions,"  "  The  Cyclopaedia  of  Missions,"  "  Mis- 
sion Stories  of  Many  Lands,"  "  The  Missionary 
Review  of  the  World,"  "The  Gospel  in  All 
Lands,"  "  The  Life  of  John  Williams,"  "  The 
Life  of  John  Coleridge  Patteson,"  "The  Life  of 
John  Geddie,"  "  Life  of  John  G.  Paton,"  "  Life 
of  James  Calvert,"  "  Life  of  James  Chalmers," 
and  several  small  books,  magazines  and  papers. 


Heroes  of  the  South  Seas. 


CHAPTER    I  . 

THE   SOCIETY  ISLANDS :    A   NIGHT   OF   TOIL. 

ALMOST  everybody  has  heard  of  Captain 
Cook,  the  famous  old  navigator  who  used  to 
go  cruising  round  the  world,  hunting  up  all 
sorts  of  queer  places  and  queer  people  and 
opening  the  way  for  other  explorers.  It  was 
in  the  year  1769,  on  one  of  his  voyages,  that 
he  came  across  two  neighboring  groups  of  isl- 
ands in  the  Southern  Pacific,  one  of  which  had 
been  first  seen  by  an  Englishman  through  the 
eyes  of  Captain  Wallis,  who  called  it  the  Geor- 
gian Group,  after  King  George  of  England. 
Captain  Cook,  however,  did  not  stop  to  draw 
distinctions,  but  gave  the  whole  cluster  the 
name  of  the  Society  Islands,  in  honor  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  London,  and  though  for  a  while 
the  two  groups  were  commonly  known  as  the 
Windward  and  the  Leeward  Islands  they  are 
now  both  included  under  the  title  bestowed  upon 
them  by  Captain  Cook. 


8  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

The  largest  island,  Tahiti,  has  a  circuit  of 
one  hundred  and  forty  miles,  and  contains  about 
six  hundred  square  miles.  It  is  made  up  of  two 
rounded  peninsulas  joined  by  a  narrow  isthmus, 
and  is  crowned  by  a  high  mountain  peak  called 
The  Diadem.  The  inhabitants  were  found  to  be 
tall  and  stout,  with  brown  skin  and  dark  eyes, 
and  they  seemed  merry  and  good-natured  ;  but 
underneath  they  were  very  bad  indeed,  and 
thought  nothing  of  stealing,  or  of  telling  lies, 
or  even  of  killing  anybody  with  whom  they 
happened  to  be  vexed,  or  whom  they  wished  to 
put  out  of  the  way. 

In  1772  the  Spaniards  tried  to  settle  upon 
Tahiti,  and  when  Captain  Cook  again  visited 
the  islands,  in  1777,  he  saw  that  they  had  left 
behind  them  some  traces  of  their  religion,  for 
a  house  and  a  cross  that  had  been  set  up  by 
them  were  still  carefully  kept  by  the  natives. 
Then  about  eleven  years  passed  away,  and  noth- 
ing was  heard  of  the  Society  Islands  until  at 
last  the  good  ship  "  Bounty  "  touched  at  those 
shores  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  supply  of 
the  plants  of  the  breadfruit  tree  to  transport  to 
the  British  West  Indies. 

The  story  brought  back  by  the  crew  of  this 
vessel,  together  with  the  former  accounts  of  the 
island  presented  by  Capt.  Cook,  roused  so  much 
interest  in  England  that  the  London  Missionary 


THE   SOCIETY    ISLANDS.  Q 

Society  was  formed  in  order  that  a  ship  might 
be  fitted  out  to  carry  the  gospel  to  those  be- 
nighted people  in  the  South  Seas.  Thirty  men 
came  forward  who  were  willing  to  be  the  bearers 
of  the  glad  tidings,  and  Capt.  Wilson,  who  had 
retired  from  the  East  India  service  and  was  now 
living  in  wealth  and  ease  at  home,  volunteered 
to  take  charge  of  the  missionary  ship,  which  had 
been  named  the  Duff.  Four  of  the  messengers 
were  ministers  and  the  rest  were  tradesmen. 
The  ensign  of  the  ship  was  a  purple  flag,  having 
three  doves  bearing  olive-branches  as  its  device  ; 
and  as  the  banner  fluttered  in  the  wind  and  the 
vessel  rode  out  of  the  harbor,  on  the  loth  of  Au- 
gust, 1796,  the  little  band  broke  out  into  the 
hymn,  "  Jesus,  at  thy  command  we  launch  into 
the  deep ;"  and  so  they  sailed  away,  strong, 
firm,  brave,  and  true,  hoping  to  do  some  of  the 
wonderful  kind  of  fishing  taught  to  mankind 
long  ago  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 

It  took  seven  months  for  the  Duff  to  weather 
the  gales  and  make  the  voyage  to  Tahiti,  but 
the  strangers  received  a  warm  welcome  when 
they  arrived. 

Seventy-five  canoes  came  out  to  meet  them, 
and  the  natives  clambered  over  the  sides  of  the 
vessel  with  many  signs  of  joy,  probably  promis- 
ing themselves,  down  in  their  crafty  hearts,  that 
they  could  soon  barter  some  of  the  pigs  and  the 


IO  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

fruit  that  they  had  brought  with  them  for  those 
valuable  knives  and  axes,  and  other  things,  that 
white  men  usually  had  about  them.  But  the  day 
was  Sunday,  and  the  new-comers  would  have 
nothing  to  do  with  bargains  just  then  ;  but,  as 
some  of  the  men  were  willing  to  stay  with  them, 
even  though  there  was  no  prospect  of  trading, 
they  held  a  service  on  board  the  ship,  and  the 
natives  looked  on  in  wonder  while  the  mission- 
aries prayed  and  sang. 

When  the  white  men  went  on  shore  one  of 
the  chiefs  showed  them  an  empty  house,  about 
one  hundred  feet  long,  where  he  said  they  might 
live ;  so  they  at  once  took  possession  of  their 
new  home,  and  hallowed  it  by  a  little  service 
within  its  walls  that  same  night.  On  Sunday 
they  preached  to  the  people,  having  for  an  in- 
terpreter a  white  man  who  had  been  at  some 
time  cast  upon  the  island  and  who  had  become 
very  much  like  the  natives.  The  following 
Sunday  Pomare,  the  father  of  the  ruling  king, 
came  to  the  meeting.  In  Tahiti,  so  soon  as  a  son 
is  born  into  the  royal  family  he  is  acknowledged 
as  the  sovereign,  and  the  former  king  loses  his 
authority.  Pomare  had  been  the  supreme  chief 
of  the  island,  and  he  was  supposed  to  be  very 
wise,  but  his  wisdom  could  not  equal  his  wicked- 
ness had  he  had  even  more  knowledge  than  was 
credited  to  him. 


THE   SOCIETY   ISLANDS.  II 

There  were  other  queer  customs  on  that 
island  of  Tahiti.  The  king  and  queen  rode 
on  the  shoulders  of  men,  and  never  touched 
their  feet  to  the  ground,  because  whatever  they 
stood  on  became  at  once  their  property.  When 
the  attendants  who  carried  them  were  exchanged 
for  others  the  royal  beings  were  obliged  to  jump 
over  the  heads  of  the  first  men  to  the  shoulders 
of  the  second  set.  They  would  not  go  on  board 
of  the  ship,  for  the  reason  that  the  vessel  would 
then  belong  to  them,  and  they  warned  their  new 
friends  not  to  hold  an  umbrella  over  their  heads 
as  that,  too,  would  immediately  become  theirs. 

There  were,  besides,  on  these  islands,  some 
strange  people  who  were  called  dancers.  They 
blackened  their  bodies  with  charcoal  and  dyed 
their  faces  red.  Their  only  business  in  life  was 
to  kill  people,  and  their  only  amusements  were 
dancing,  boxing  and  wrestling. 

The  favorite  god,  whose  name  was  Oro,  was 
nothing  but  a  log  of  wood  about  as  large  as  a 
man.  It  was  kept  in  a  shed  among  a  grove  of 
trees  surrounded  by  a  stone  wall.  The  priests 
would  roll  themselves  up  in  bundles  of  cloth, 
and  by  disguising  their  voices  pretend  to  be 
speaking  for  the  gods ;  and  though  the  people 
were  not  really  deceived  they  dared  not  disobey 
the  commands  of  the  priests.  There  were  many 
other  idols.  Some  were  made  of  stone,  but  most 


12  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

of  them  were  of  wood,  and  there  were  more  than 
one  hundred  kinds.  Some  of  the  gods  were 
supposed  to  protect  thieves,  some  cared  for 
murderers,  and  most  of  them  demanded  hu- 
man sacrifices.  There  were  numerous  super- 
stitions, too.  One  of  them  was  a  strong  belief 
in  the  power  of  red  feathers ;  and  the  people 
were  sure  that  they  never  could  have  any  suc- 
cess in  fishing  unless  they  carried  a  bunch  of 
scarlet  feathers  with  them  when  they  went  out 
upon  the  water. 

In  this  difficult  place,  among  these  ignorant, 
degraded  people,  the  good  men  from  over  the 
sea  settled  down  and  went  to  work  in  earnest 
to  do  what  they  could  to  lift  them  from  their 
low  condition  ;  but  the  task  was  even  harder  than 
had  been  expected.  When  the  missionaries 
were  abused,  if  they  did  not  revenge  themselves, 
they  were  despised  as  cowards ;  but  they  made 
up  their  minds  that  they  would  defend  them- 
selves only  when  necessary,  and  would  trust  in 
God  and  try  to  win  their  way  by  kindness  and 
patience.  They  started  a  hospital,  but  the  sus- 
picious people  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
They  seemed  to  care  little  for  the  new  teachings 
and  were  deeply  offended  if  any  of  their  evil 
customs  were  rebuked. 

But,  after  three  years  of  labor,  a  Christian 
chapel  was  built,  and  in  1800  eight  new  mission- 


THE  SOCIETY  ISLANDS.  13 

aries  came  to  the  rescue.  Among  them  was 
Henry  Nott,  who  proved  himself  one  of  the 
best  of  the  missionaries  to  the  South  Seas.  Mr. 
Nott  and  one  of  his  companions  made  a  tour 
round  the  island  and  preached  everywhere. 
Sometimes  they  preached  two  or  three  times  a 
day,  and  all  the  time  the  missionaries  prayed 
with  all  their  hearts  that  they  might  bring  a 
blessing  to  these  poor  people  whom  they  had 
come  to  help. 

But  still  the  wars  and  the  wickedness  went 
on,  and  the  natives  would  answer  all  the  per- 
suasions of  their  friends  to  leave  their  old  ways, 
and  take  hold  of  better  things,  with  the  words : 
"  None  of  the  chiefs  believe  you,  so  why  should 
we?" 

In  1803  the  old  king  died,  and  his  son  took 
the  name  of  Pomare  Second.  He  had  learned 
to  read  and  write,  and  the  people  were  much 
afraid  of  him.  They  believed  that  he  had 
gained  power  by  which  he  could  kill  a  man  just 
by  prayers  and  charms.  The  missionaries  then 
turned  their  attention  towards  the  children.  One 
of  them  opened  a  school  in  his  own  home,  and 
taught  reading  and  writing  to  the  girls  and  boys 
by  making  letters  in  the  sand.  He  also  wrote 
some  books,  and  sent  them  to  England  to  be 
printed ;  but  it  was  hard  to  put  Christian  ideas 
into  a  language  in  which  there  was  no  word  for 


14  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

God,  and  no  way  by  which  the  thought  of  grati- 
tude might  be  expressed. 

In  1807  another  war  broke  out,  and  all  the 
missionaries  had  to  flee  from  Tahiti.  The  king 
took  refuge  in  the  island  of  Eimeo,  not  far  away, 
and  after  a  while  invited  the  missionaries  to  fol- 
low him  to  that  place.  They  were  ready  to  go 
anywhere  if  only  there  was  a  chance  of  doing 
good.  So  over  to  Eimeo  they  moved,  from  the 
island  in  which  they  had  sought  shelter,  and 
there  they  built  a  chapel  and  started  a  school. 
Before  long  they  noticed  that  the  king  seemed 
to  be  losing  a  little  of  his  old  faith  in  idols  and 
superstitions.  A  sacred  turtle  was  caught  one 
day,  and,  instead  of  sending  it  to  the  temple, 
as  was  the  custom  in  such  cases,  he  was  bold 
enough  to  have  it  cooked,  and  then  ate  it  with 
much  enjoyment.  As  no  harm  came  to  him  in 
consequence  of  this  meal,  his  confidence  in  his 
gods  was  still  more  shaken.  Then  further  en- 
couragement came  to  the  missionaries :  Pomare 
really  asked  to  be  baptized.  They  thought  it 
would  be  better  to  wait  a  while  before  granting 
his  request,  so  that  they  might  be  sure  that  he 
was  sincere  in  his  profession  that  he  meant  to 
take  Jehovah  as  his  God ;  but  when  they  saw 
that  he  was  truly  sorry  for  his  past  wickedness, 
and  that  he  was  careful  about  keeping  Sunday 
in  the  Christian  way  and  was  doing  his  best  to 


THE   SOCIETY  ISLANDS.  I  5 

persuade  his  subjects  to  give  up  their  idols  and 
to  worship  the  true  God,  they  could  not  doubt 
his  earnestness. 

For  nearly  sixteen  years  now  they  had  been 
working  in  these  islands,  and  this  was  about  all 
the  fruit  they  had  gathered  so  far.  Some  of 
them  began  to  feel  that,  like  Peter  and  his  com- 
panions on  the  little  lake  in  Palestine,  they  had 
toiled  all  the  night  and  taken  nothing.  Even  the 
London  Missionary  Society  had  almost  decided 
to  give  up  the  work  as  hopeless.  But  there 
were  one  or  two  men  who  had  not  come  to  the 
end  of  their  faith  yet.  One  of  them  said  that 
he  would  sell  the  clothes  from  his  back  before 
he  would  let  go  of  the  scheme,  and  he  proposed 
that  instead  of  sitting  down  in  despair  they 
should  fall  to  praying  harder  than  ever  for  this 
poor,  disheartening  little  mission.  To  this  the 
others  agreed,  and  while  the  men  in  the  Pacific 
labored  the  men  at  home  prayed. 

Now  just  about  this  time  Pomare  was  invited 
to  go  back  to  Tahiti,  and  the  missionaries  at 
Eimeo  heard  a  rumor  that  the  people  there 
were  beginning  to  wake  up  and  to  think  a  little 
about  what  had  been  told  them  by  those  stran- 
gers whom  they  had  driven  away.  At  this 
report,  two  of  the  exiles  hurried  back  to  Tahiti 
to  see  if  the  good  news  were  true.  They  found 
out  that  two  of  their  old  servants  who  had  been 


l6  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

left  behind  had  been  influenced  by  the  words 
and  the  lives  of  their  masters  almost  without 
knowing  the  fact  themselves,  and  since  their 
departure  these  men  had  been  praying  to- 
gether, as  well  as  they  knew  how,  and  had 
persuaded  others  to  join  them  in  this  practice. 
They  had,  too,  made  up  their  minds  to  give 
up  their  idols,  to  keep  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest, 
and  to  worship  only  Jehovah.  The  way  was 
wide  open  for  the  missionaries  and  their  mes- 
sage. 

Mr.  Nott  gathered  a  crowd  of  savages  in 
one  of  the  cocoanut  groves  of  Tahiti,  and  told 
them  the  beautiful,  wonderful  old  story  to  which 
they  would  not  listen  before.  As  he  was  read- 
ing the  sixteenth  verse  of  the  third  chapter 
of  John,  one  chief  cried  out,  "Will  you  read 
that  again?"  Slowly  and  carefully  Mr.  Nott 
read  over  the  words  once  more :  "  For  God  so 
loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  The  man 
listened  eagerly.  "Does  that  mean  Tahiti?" 
he  asked. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Nott,  pointing  his  finger 
straight  at  the  dusky  figure  before  him,  "it 
means  you."  The  chief  took  the  answer  in 
simple  faith,  and  became  himself,  in  course  of 
time,  a  devoted  missionary  to  his  people.  The 


THE  SOCIETY  ISLANDS.  I? 

men  who  were  praying  at  home  had  their  re- 
ward, too.  The  ship  from  London,  carrying 
letters  of  cheer  and  hope  to  the  missionaries  in 
Eimeo,  was  met  in  mid-ocean  by  the  vessel 
bearing  the  news  of  the  overthrow  of  idolatry 
in  Tahiti,  and  loaded  with  a  cargo  of  the  re- 
jected idols.  So  the  night  of  toil  was  light- 
ened by  the  breaking  of  the  dawn,  and  the  One 
who  had  come  to  the  aid  of  the  weary  fisher- 
men in  Galilee  had  given  these  workers,  too, 
the  desire  of  their  hearts. 

In  1813  the  people  in  Eimeo  also  began  to 
throw  away  their  gods  of  wood  and  of  stone 
and  to  bow  down  to  the  one  God  of  all  man- 
kind. An  old  priest  brought  out  the  idols,  one 
by  one  tore  off  their  sacred  garments,  made  of 
finely-braided  cloth  of  cocoanut  fibres  and  orna- 
mented with  red  feathers,  and  threw  both  gods 
and  clothing  into  the  fire,  calling  to  the  people 
to  come  and  see  how  helpless  were  the  logs 
that  they  had  worshipped. 

King  Pomare  was  not  successful  in  estab- 
lishing his  kingdom  again  in  Tahiti,  so  he  went 
back  to  Eimeo,  taking  with  him  a  large  number 
of  followers  who  called  themselves  Christians. 
At  Tahiti  the  native  Christians  who  had  been 
left  there  were  cruelly  treated  by  the  remaining 
heathen,  and  many  ran  away  to  Eimeo.  This 
action  brought  on  a  battle  between  the  inhabi- 


18  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

tants  of  the  two  islands,  and  Pomare  came  off 
victor.  Instead  of  destroying  his  enemies,  ac- 
cording to  the  old  heathen  fashion,  he  made 
away  with  their  idols.  Even  that  great  god  Oro 
he  did  not  spare,  but  first  disgraced  it  by  stand- 
ing it  up  in  his  kitchen  and  driving  pegs  into 
it  upon  which  to  hang  baskets  of  food,  and  then 
disposed  of  it  altogether  by  burning  it  for  fuel. 

Soon  after  this  occurrence  Pomare  was  re- 
stored to  his  rightful  government,  and  the  peo- 
ple themselves  cast  away  the  rest  of  their  idols, 
pulled  down  their  temples,  and  began  to  build 
chapels.  Pomare  wrote  a  prayer,  which  he 
often  read  in  these  places  of  worship  ;  and  as  for 
the  missionaries,  they  could  scarcely  find  time 
for  rest,  as  they  were  so  closely  followed  by 
those  who  had  questions  to  ask,  or  who  were 
anxious  to  learn  to  read.  In  1816  Pomare  col- 
lected his  own  household  gods  and  sent  them 
to  England,  so  that,  as  he  said,  the  people  there 
might  see  the  foolish  idols  that  had  been  so 
highly  valued  in  Tahiti.  These  idols  were 
placed  in  the  museum  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society. 

About  this  time  a  printing  press  was  brought 
to  Eimeo,  and  this  fresh  wonder  caused  great 
excitement  among  the  natives  of  the  islands. 
From  far  and  near  they  flocked  to  see  the 
strange  sight,  and  their  canoes  lined  the  shore 


THE   SOCIETY  ISLANDS.  19 

while  the  men  were  climbing  up  on  one  an- 
other's shoulders  to  peer  in  the  windows  of  the 
room  in  which  it  had  been  placed,  exclaiming 
in  astonishment  and  delight,  "  O  Britain,  land 
of  skill !"  They  also  brought  plantain  leaves 
to  the  missionaries,  begging  that  spelling-books 
might  be  written  upon  them,  and  when  the 
Gospel  of  Luke  was  completed  in  the  Tahitian 
language,  and  copies  were  printed,  they  could 
hardly  be  given  out  fast  enough  to  the  waiting 
people.  Then  dogs  and  cats  and  goats  were 
killed,  so  that  their  skins  might  be  used  as 
covers  for  the  precious  volumes. 

It  was  about  1817  that  John  Williams,  after- 
wards called  "  The  Apostle  of  the  Pacific," 
landed  at  Eimeo  to  put  his  shoulder  to  the 
wheel  with  the  other  men  from  abroad.  On 
the  voyage  from  England  he  had  examined 
every  part  of  the  vessel  on  which  he  sailed,  and 
the  first  thing  that  he  did  after  his  arrival  was 
to  complete  a  boat  that  had  been  laid  down 
three  years  before.  In  ten  months  he  had 
learned  the  language  of  the  island,  by  moving 
freely  among  the  people  and  chatting  with  them 
on  every  occasion,  thus  wiling  away  from  them 
their  hearts  and  their  speech  at  the  same  time. 

The  missionaries  who  had  fled  to  Huahine, 
in  the  other  group  of  the  Society  Islands,  at  the 
time  of  the  trouble  in  Tahiti,  had  taught  the 


20  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

natives  there  something  about  the  gospel,  and 
afterwards,  when  Pomare  was  at  war  with  Tahiti, 
several  ships  from  those  islands  had  gone  over  to 
assist  him  to  regain  his  throne,  and  had  carried 
home  with  them  a  little  more  truth.  Tamatoa, 
the  king  of  Raiatea,  had  been  especially  im- 
pressed with  the  results  that  came  from  the 
Christian  religion. 

On  his  return  to  his  own  island,  when  he  saw 
the  crowds  on  the  shore  waiting  to  welcome 
him  with  joy,  and  evidently  expecting  him  to 
bring  with  him  many  war  captives,  he  placed  a 
herald  in  the  front  of  his  canoe  and  told  him  to 
shout  to  the  people,  "  We  have  brought  no  vic- 
tims slain  in  battle.  We  are  all  praying  peo- 
ple and  worship  the  true  God." 

Then  the  books  that  the  missionaries  had 
given  him  were  held  up,  and  the  herald  cried, 
"  These  are  the  victims,  the  trophies,  with  which 
we  have  returned  !"  When  Tamatoa  landed 
he  gave  an  account  of  what  he  had  seen  in 
Tahiti,  and  about  one-third  of  the  people  agreed 
to  join  him  in  trying  to  live  in  the  Christian 
way.  Soon  after  his  arrival  Tamatoa  fell  ill, 
and  one  of  his  friends  said  that  Jehovah  must 
have  sent  this  sickness  because  he  was  angry 
that  the  great  national  idol  had  not  been  des- 
troyed, and  he  proposed  that  it  should  at  once 
be  put  out  of  the  way.  A  brave  band  went  to 


THE  SOCIETY  ISLANDS.  21 

the  temple,  took  the  god  from  his  seat  and  set 
fire  to  the  building.  The  heathen  party  was 
very  angry  at  this  deed,  and  a  house  of  cocoanut 
trunks  and  breadfruit  trees  was  built  into  which 
the  Christians  were  to  be  thrust  and  burned  alive. 
The  Christians  tried  to  make  peace,  but  the  only 
answer  that  they  received  was,  "  There  is  no 
peace  for  god-burners  until  they  have  felt  the 
effects  of  the  fire  that  destroyed  Oro."  Then 
the  men  who  worshipped  Jehovah  sought  his 
protection  in  prayer,  and  when  their  enemies 
came  upon  them  early  in  the  morning,  while 
they  were  still  on  their  knees,  they  rushed  out 
and  so  boldly  assailed  the  invaders  that  they 
departed  in  haste  and  alarm.  They  expected 
to  receive  the  treatment  that  they  had  had  in 
store  for  the  Christians  ;  but  when  they  were 
met  with  forgiveness  and  kindness  they  wen. 
overcome  with  surprise.  A  great  feast  was 
spread  for  them,  at  which  nearly  one  hundred 
pigs  were  baked  whole,  and  served  with  bread- 
fruit and  other  vegetables,  but  the  men  were  so 
humbled  and  abashed  that  they  could  hardly 
eat  anything.  One  man  arose  and  said  :  "  Let 
every  one  eat  as  he  will ;  but  for  my  part,  never 
again,  to  my  dying  day,  will  I  worship  the  gods 
that  could  not  protect  us  in  the  hour  of  danger. 
We  were  four  times  the  number  of  the  pray- 
ing people,  yet  with  the  greatest  ease  they  have 


22  HEROES  OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

conquered  us.  Jehovah  is  the  true  God.  Had 
we  been  conquerers  they  would  now  be  burning 
in  the  house  we  made  for  the  purpose ;  but  in- 
stead of  injuring  us,  or  our  wives  or  children, 
they  have  set  for  us  this  sumptuous  feast. 
Theirs  is  a  religion  of  mercy.  I  will  go  and 
join  myself  to  this  people." 

That  same  night  every  one  of  the  heathen 
party  bowed  in  prayer  to  Jehovah,  and  all  gave 
thanks  for  their  own  defeat.  The  next  morning 
both  parties  worked  together  in  destroying  every 
idol  and  temple  in  the  island,  and  in  a  small 
one  near  by  as  well ;  and  in  three  days  after  this 
time  not  a  remnant  of  idolatry  could  be  found 
in  either  place.  Huahine,  Boraoora  and  Maurea, 
other  islands  of  the  group,  began  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  people  of  Raiatea  ;  and  two  men 
from  Huahine  were  sent  to  Tahiti  to  ask  for 
teachers.  John  Williams,  William  Ellis,  and  one 
other  missionary  answered  this  call,  and  in  1818 
they  went  over  to  Huahine.  Then  Tamatoa 
begged  for  a  missionary  of  his  own,  and  John 
Williams  finally  settled  at  Raiatea. 

In  1819  the  Royal  Mission  Chapel  in  Tahiti 
was  finished.  It  was  two  hundred  and  twelve 
feet  longer  than  St.  Paul's  in  London,  and  con- 
tained one  hundred  and  three  windows  and 
twenty-nine  doors.  It  was  so  large  that  no 
preacher  could  be  heard  throughout  the  whole 


THE   SOCIETY    ISLANDS.  23 

building,  so  three  pulpits  were  placed  within  it, 
at  suitable  distances  apart,  and  three  ministers 
preached  at  once  to  a  congregation  of  six  thou- 
sand people. 

After  the  dedication  of  the  chapel  laws  were 
published,  forbidding  murder,  theft,  Sabbath- 
breaking,  and  other  things,  and  when  the  king 
asked  his  chiefs  if  they  would  agree  to  these 
rules  even  the  one  who  had  been  the  ringleader 
among  the  rebels  held  up  both  hands,  in  token 
of  his  wish  to  be  good  and  obedient. 

Pomare  died  in  1821,  and  his  son,  only  four 
years  old,  was  crowned  by  Mr.  Nott.  The  trans- 
lation of  the  whole  Bible  into  Tahitian  was  com- 
pleted in  1836,  Mr.  Nott  having  done  most  of  the 
work.  The  remainder  of  his  life  was  spent  in 
Tahiti,  and  in  1844  he  died. 

In  the  year  1827  some  men  were  driven  from 
the  Pearl  Islands  to  Tahiti  on  account  of  war  in 
their  own  country.  These  islands  are  made  up 
of  bits  of  land  called  Harp  Island,  Chain  Island, 
Crescent  Island  and  Bow  Island,  on  account  of 
their  various  shapes.  While  away  from  home 
these  people  picked  up  some  seeds  of  gospel 
truth,  and  on  their  return  to  their  friends  and 
relatives  they  told  what  they  had  seen  and  heard 
on  their  voyage,  and  their  story  was  accepted 
and  acted  upon.  The  idols  were  cast  down,  and 
Jehovah  was  chosen  as  the  God  of  the  Pearl 


24  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

Islands  too.  From  Tahiti  and  the  adjacent 
islands  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty 
evangelists  have  gone  forth  carrying  the  mes- 
sage of  salvation  to  other  tribes.  The  spirit  that 
moves  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  these  converts, 
who  about  a  century  ago  were  nothing  but  sav- 
ages, is  well  expressed  in  their  own  words. 

"  Let  our  hands  forget  how  to  lift  the  club  or 
throw  the  spear.  Let  our  guns  decay  with  rust ; 
we  do  not  want  them.  Though  we  have  been 
pierced  with  bows  or  spears,  if  we  pierce  each 
other  now  let  it  be  with  the  word  of  God." 

The  cause  of  missions  has  been  much  hin 
dered  by  the  French  occupation  of  the  islands, 
but  the  stations  are  now  under  the  care  of  the 
French  Protestant  Society,  and  it  is  hoped  that 
the  good  work  may  never  be  crushed  out.  It  is 
said  that  the  natives  take  much  more  kindly  to 
the  Protestant  religion  than  to  that  of  the  Ro- 
manists, and  that  it  is  wonderful  how  well  they 
keep  to  their  good  principles  and  their  Christian 
faith  when  they  are  surrounded  by  so  many  evil 
influences. 


THE   HERVEY   ISLANDS.  2C 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   HERVEY    ISLANDS  :     A   BRAVE   DISCOVERER. 

WHEN  John  Williams  went  to  live  in  Rai- 
atea  he  found  the  people  scattered  all  over  the 
island  in  separate  villages,  so  far  apart  that  there 
was  no  chance  of  helping  the  inhabitants  to  work 
together  in  leaving  off  their  old  ways  and  form- 
ing new  ones,  and  everybody  was  jealous  and 
suspicious  of  everybody  else.  The  first  thing 
that  he  did,  therefore,  was  to  form  a  settlement 
where  they  might  live  together  in  comfort, 
peace  and  fellowship.  He  began  by  building  a 
house  for  himself,  so  that  he  might  show  the  na- 
tives what  a  good  home  should  be  like  and  how 
it  was  to  be  made.  This  house  was  sixty  feet 
long  and  thirty  feet  broad,  and  had  seven  rooms, 
four  of  which  were  in  front  and  three  behind. 
He  made  also  all  the  furniture  of  his  new  dwell- 
ing. The  men  were  quick  in  catching  his  ideas, 
and  clever  in  carrying  them  out,  and  at  the  end 
of  twelve  months  the  houses  extended  two  miles 
along  the  seashore,  and  altogether  there  were 
about  one  thousand  people  living  in  them. 

Having  finished  this  task,  John  Williams 
made  up  his  mind  that  he  must  have  a  boat, 
and  he  soon  had  one  put  together,  formed  of 


26  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

planks  held  in  place  by  the  native  cord.  The 
natives,  though  naturally  very  lazy,  set  to  work 
to  imitate  his  example  ;  and  while  their  hands 
were  busy  this  new  comrade  of  theirs  lost  no 
opportunity  for  teaching  them  other  things  be- 
sides boat-building,  and  in  his  pleasant,  friendly 
way  he  dropped  many  a  word  of  that  good  gos- 
pel that  would  do  so  much  more  for  them  than 
any  other  kind  of  learning.  They  listened  to 
him  readily,  and  tried  to  put  this  part  of  his 
teaching  into  practice.  One  man  used  to  pray 
earnestly:  "Oh,  Jehovah,  give  thy  word  into 
my  heart,  all  thy  word,  and  cover  it  up  there, 
that  it  may  riot  be  forgotten  by  me." 

There  was,  too,  a  poor  old  cripple  who  used 
to  sit  by  the  wayside,  and  when  the  people  were 
going  home  from  church  he  would  beg  them  to 
tell  him  a  little  of  what  they  had  heard  there. 
"  One  gives  me  one  piece,"  he  said,  "  and  another 
another,  and  I  gather  them  together  in  my 
heart ;  and  thinking  over  what  I  thus  obtain, 
and  praying  God  to  make  me  know,  I  get  to 
understand."  When  he  first  saw  Mr.  Williams 
he  said,  in  greeting,  "  Welcome,  servant  of  God, 
who  brought  light  into  this  dark  island.  To  you 
we  are  indebted  for  the  word  of  heaven." 

Some  Bibles  were  sent  to  the  people  and  they 
were  all  anxious  to  learn  to  read.  Then  they 
wished  to  have  their  neighbors  share  some  of 


THE   HERVEY    OR   COOK    ISLANDS.  2/ 

the  blessings  that  had  come  to  them.  A  mis- 
sionary society  was  started,  which  in  one  year 
gave  about  $2,500  for  the  purpose  of  "  causing 
the  word  of  God  to  grow,"  as  they  said  them- 
selves. Even  the  king  and  queen  prepared  ar- 
row-root with  their  own  hands,  as  a  contribution 
to  this  object.  "  Why,"  said  Tamatoa,  the  king, 
"  we  would  not  give  that  to  God  upon  which  we 
bestowed  no  labor."  For  some  reason  these  new 
Christians  go  far  ahead  of  the  old  ones  some- 
times. Perhaps  these  people  had  caught  the 
spirit  of  their  leader,  John  Williams.  "  Our 
hearts  take  in  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,"  he  said, 
and  he  found  it  hard  to  content  himself  within 
the  limits  of  a  single  reef  when  there  was  so 
much  to  be  done  outside  of  his  own  little  island. 

But  he  did  not  neglect  the  work  close  at 
hand,  in  spite  of  the  pulling  of  his  heart-strings 
in  another  direction.  "  I  have  given  myself 
wholly  to  the  Lord,"  said  he ;  and  his  Master's 
work  he  could  find  anywhere. 

He  built  a  new  chapel  for  his  congregation, 
setting  off  part  of  it  for  a  court-house.  Every- 
thing about  the  building  astonished  the  natives, 
but  that  which  was  a  special  matter  for  won- 
der and  admiration  was  that  he  had  contrived 
a  sort  of  chandelier  in  which  cocoanut  shells 
were  used  as  lamps.  The  opening  day  two 
thousand  four  hundred  persons  were  present, 


28  HEROES    OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

and  the  next  day  a  code  of  laws  was  adopted 
and  the  king's  brother  was  made  chief  judge  of 
the  island.  Then  Mr.  Williams  provided  honest 
employment  for  the  people  by  beginning  the 
cultivation  of  the  sugar-cane,  which  grows  on 
the  island,  and  he  also  put  up  a  sugar-mill  for 
their  use. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1821  that 
a  pestilence  broke  out  in  the  Austral  Islands, 
about  three  hundred  miles  away,  south  of  the  So- 
ciety Islands.  Two  chiefs  of  Rurutu,  one  of  these 
islands,  each  built  himself  a  canoe,  and  then 
crowding  their  boats  with  as  many  persons  as 
they  would  hold  they  set  sail  upon  the  broad 
ocean,  not  knowing  whither  they  were  going. 
They  landed  at  Raiatea  at  last,  and  were  much 
interested  in  all  the  new  and  surprising  things 
that  they  saw  there  ;  and  when  they  thought  it 
safe  to  venture  back  to  their  own  country  they 
begged  two  of  the  native  teachers  to  go  with 
them  and  teach  them  how  to  live  as  Christians. 
"  We  cannot  go  home  to  our  land  of  darkness 
without  a  light  in  our  hands,"  they  said  touch- 
ingly,  and  were  made  very  happy  by  having 
their  petition  granted  and  being  able  besides  to 
take  with  them  several  copies  of  the  gospels  in 
Tahitian,  a  language  something  like  their  own. 

"  The  priests  have  deceived  us,"  they  told 
their  friends  on  their  return  ;  and  in  order  to 


THE   HERVEV   OR   COOK   ISLANDS.  29 

prove  the  truth  of  their  words  they  made  a 
feast  at  which  they  allowed  the  women  to  eat 
some  of  the  things  that  were  usually  forbidden 
to  them.  As  these  women  did  not  fall  down 
and  die  on  the  spot,  or  have  any  other  dreadful 
thing  happen  to  them,  the  people  believed  what 
had  been  told  them,  and  lost  no  time  in  pulling 
down  their  temples  and  burning  their  altars. 
In  a  few  weeks  Christianity  became  the  religion 
of  the  island ;  the  converts  sent  a  load  of  idols 
over  to  Raiatea,  to  tell  their  own  story,  and  then 
hastened  to  spread  the  light  among  the  other 
islands  in  the  same  group.  These  idols  were 
publicly  exhibited  in  the  church  at  Raiatea. 
The  national  god  of  Rurutu  was  called  Aa,  and 
he  was  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  images, 
for  he  was  decked  all  over  outside  with  little 
gods,  and  in  his  back  was  a  door,  which  was 
opened  and  twenty-four  small  idols  were  found 
hidden  away  inside  of  him. 

"Ah,"  said  one  of  the  converts  at  Raiatea, 
"angels  would  rejoice  to  be  employed  by  God 
to  teach  the  world  this  gospel  of  Christ." 

The  missionary  society  at  Raiatea  was  so 
much  encouraged  by  this  good  piece  of  work 
that  its  contributions  grew  to  the  sum  of  $9,000. 
"  A  little  property  given  with  the  heart  becomes 
big  property  in  the  sight  of  God,"  one  of  the 
members  had  said,  and  all  the  collections  of  this 


3O  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

society  must  have  been  especially  blessed,  be, 
cause  all  were  offered  out  of  pure  love  and  grati- 
tude. 

A  Christian  church  was  formed  at  Raiatea  now, 
and  about  this  time  five  hundred  persons  were 
baptized.  Then  John  Williams  and  his  wife  both 
fell  ill,  partly  because  they  had  not  proper  food, 
and  they  had  to  take  a  trip  to  Australia  in  search 
of  a  doctor.  On  their  way  they  stopped  at  Aitu- 
taki,  one  of  the  Hervey  or  Cook  group  of  islands, 
and  left  there  two  native  teachers  among  the 
savages,  who  were  not  pleasant-looking  hosts. 
They  were  indeed  most  hideous  to  behold,  for 
their  bodies  were  tattooed  all  over  and  smeared 
with  pipe-clay,  red  or  yellow  ochre,  or  charcoal. 

Mr.  Williams  soon  won  back  his  health  at 
Sydney,  and  began  at  once  to  look  round  to  see 
if  he  could  not  in  some  way  obtain  a  ship  that  he 
might  use  for  the  purpose  of  trading  from  his 
islands  to  New  South  Wales.  The  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  at  first  thought  the  plan  a  foolish 
one,  but  John  Williams  was  not  a  man  to  yield 
his  point  without  good  reason,  so  the  members 
gave  in  at  last  to  his  arguments,  and  a  schooner 
was  bought  for  him,  and  called  the  Endeavor,  a 
name  that  the  natives  afterwards  changed  to  the 
Beginning.  Mr.  Williams  loaded  his  boat  with 
shoes,  clothing,  tea,  and  other  articles,  engaged 
a  man  to  go  with  him  to  teach  his  people  the  art 


THE   HERVEY   OR   COOK   ISLANDS.  31 

of  cultivating  sugar  and  tobacco,  and  with  sev- 
eral sheep  and  cows  as  presents  from  the  gov- 
ernor of  New  South  Wales  he  sailed  away 
home,  having  gained  more  on  his  voyage  than 
many  persons  find  on  a  hunt  for  health. 

Tamatoa,  the  king,  was  delighted  with  the 
new  ship,  and  immediately  sat  down  and  wrote 
a  letter  of  thanks  to  the  directors  of  the  London 
Society. 

"  A  ship  is  good,"  wrote  he,  wisely,  "  for  by 
its  means  useful  property  will  come  to  our  lands 
and  our  bodies  be  covered  with  decent  cloth. 
But  this  is  another  use  of  the  ship :  when  we 
compassionate  the  little  lands  near  to  us,  and 
desire  to  send  two  among  us  to  those  lands  to 
teach  them  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  good 
word  of  the  kingdom." 

Ah,  to  send  on  "  the  good  word  of  the  king- 
dom " — that  was  what  John  Williams  was  all  on 
fire  to  do.  The  teachers  left  at  Aitutaki  had,  for 
a  while,  had  a  hard  time  with  their  wild  pupils. 
The  savages  had  laughed  at  them,  calling  them 
"  two  logs  of  driftwood  cast  up  by  the  sea,"  and 
had  not  treated  them  with  much  courtesy  in  any 
way.  But  before  long  the  natives  became  some- 
what interested,  and  would  listen  to  what  was 
told  them  about  this  strange  new  religion.  They 
even  promised,  at  last,  that  if  John  Williams 
would  come  himself  to  see  them  again  they 


32  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

would  give  up  their  idols.  Of  course,  with  such 
an  invitation  it  did  not  take  much  urging  to 
bring  John  Williams  over  the  water,  for  he  be- 
lieved that  "  a  lazy  missionary  is  an  ugly  and 
useless  thing,"  and  he  could  never  have  too 
much  of  this  sort  of  work  to  do.  When  he 
reached  Aitutaki  the  people  waded  out  into  the 
sea,  and  crowded  round  his  boat,  calling  out  like 
pleased  children,  "  Good  is  the  word  of  God.  It 
is  well  now  with  Aitutaki.  The  good  word  has 
taken  root  at  Aitutaki."  Then  they  held  up 
their  hats  and  their  books  and  said  over  as 
many  bits  from  the  Bible  as  they  could  remem- 
ber, trying  to  show  that  they  were  doing  their 
best  to  fall  into  the  new  way.  They  had  built 
many  houses,  and  had  a  neat  chapel,  which 
had  been  whitewashed  by  the  teachers.  This 
work  had  caused  great  surprise  among  the 
islanders.  "  Just  see,  they  are  roasting  stones," 
they  whispered  one  to  another ;  and  when  the 
coating  was  dry  they  shook  their  puzzled  heads, 
and  said,  solemnly,  "  The  very  stones  in  the  sea 
and  the  sand  on  the  shore  become  good  property 
in  the  hands  of  those  who  worship  the  true  God 
and  regard  his  word." 

But  Air.  Williams  did  not  end  his  journey 
at  Aitutaki,  for  there  he  found  some  natives 
from  Rarotonga,  another  of  the  Hervey  Islands* 
These  men  had  been  driven  out  of  their  course 


THE   HERVEY   OR   COOK   ISLANDS.  33 

by  a  gale,  and  had  been  thrown  upon  Aitutaki. 
There  they  had  become  Christians,  and  now 
they  wished  to  return  and  tell  the  people  of 
Rarotonga  the  good  things  that  they  had 
learned. 

Captain  Cook  had  once  been  to  Rarotonga, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  had  been  in- 
terested  in  the  white  men,  all  of  whom  they 
called  "  Kookes,"  after  Captain  Cook.  Since 
that  time  they  had  been  looking  out  for  a  second 
visit  from  the  "  Kookes,"  and  now  here  was  a 
chance  to  fulfil  their  expectations,  if  the  white 
men  would  go  home  with  the  wanderers.  There 
was  only  one  trouble  about  carrying  out  this 
plan,  and  that  was  that  none  of  them  knew  the 
way.  John  Williams  thought  that  they  might 
find  it  together,  and  here  was  a  little  cruise  after 
his  own  heart ;  for  to  reach  new  islands  was  his 
constant  desire  and  aim.  He  took  the  lost 
mariners  on  board  his  ship,  and  also  the  king 
of  Aitutaki,  and  thirty-one  of  the  discarded 
idols.  There  went  with  him  besides  one  of  the 
native  teachers,  whose  name  was  Papeiha,  and 
who  was  the  kind  of  Christian  that  we  read 
about  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  in  the  days 
of  Paul  and  Philip  and  Stephen,  and  all  the  rest. 
Then  off  they  sailed  upon  their  voyage  of  dis- 
covery. 

But  Rarotonga  seemed  astray  in  the  ocean, 

Heroee  of  the  South  Beta.  3 


34  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

and  nobody  knew  exactly  where  to  look  for  it. 
The  vessel  touched  at  the  island  of  Atui,  where 
two  teachers  had  been  living  for  two  months, 
although  they  had  not  been  very  well  cared  for. 
They  had  often  been  hungry,  and  many  of  their 
goods  had  been  stolen  from  them.  The  chief 
of  the  island  came  on  board  the  ship,  and 
Papeiha  took  him  down  into  the  hold  and 
showed  him  the  idols  stowed  away  there,  while 
Mr.  Williams  told  him  what  the  Bible  says  about 
such  gods.  The  chief  was  much  impressed,  and 
the  next  day  declared  his  intention  of  throwing 
aside  his  images  forever.  "  Eyes  they  have,  it  is 
true,"  he  said,  "  but  wood  cannot  see  ;  ears  they 
have,  but  wood  cannot  hear."  He  then  carried 
his  guests  over  to  two  small  islands  in  his  king- 
dom and  ordered  the  people  there  to  cast  away 
their  idols.  These  natives  were  very  simple 
and  ignorant,  and  willingly  obeyed.  The  goats 
that  Mr.  Williams  brought  with  him  they  called 
"birds  with  great  teeth  in  their  heads." 

The  chief  of  these  islands  told  Mr.  Williams 
that  Rarotonga  was  only  a  few  days'  sail  distant, 
and  having  learned  the  direction  in  which  to 
steer  the  party  again  set  forth,  although  the 
natives  among  them  begged  that  no  further 
search  might  be  made,  as  the  people  of  Raro- 
tonga were  known  to  be  terrible  cannibals. 

Still  Mr.  Williams  tried  to  calm  their  fears 


THE   HERVEY   OR   COOK   ISLANDS.  35 

and  pressed  on.  Five  days  passed  and  nothing 
came  to  reward  their  efforts.  At  the  end  of 
that  time,  John  Williams,  like  Columbus  before 
him,  had  to  promise  to  turn  back  if  land  were 
not  sighted  at  a  given  hour.  One  half-hour  be- 
fore the  close  of  this  period  there  was  a  cry 
from  the  man  on  the  look-out,  "  There  is  the 
island  we  are  seeking  !" 

There  it  lay  before  them — Rarotonga,  with 
its  cruel,  wicked  inhabitants. 

So  soon  as  the  ship  came  into  sight  thirty  or 
forty  of  the  savages  jumped  into  their  canoes 
and  went  forth  to  meet  the  strangers,  eager  to 
see  what  sort  of  beings  they  were.  Fortunately 
the  natives  seemed  very  friendly,  and  greeted 
the  new-comers  in  the  best  South  Sea  manner, 
by  rubbing  their  noses,  which  were  covered  with 
cocoanut  oil,  against  those  of  the  missionaries 
and  teachers.  This  action,  though  not  very 
agreeable,  was  comforting,  for  it  showed  good 
feeling ;  but  the  Rarotongans  seemed  not  very 
anxious  to  have  any  of  the  visitors  go  ashore 
with  them.  However,  Papeiha  made  his  way  to 
the  land  and  explained  to  the  people  the  object 
of  the  expedition.  Makea,  the  king,  greeted 
him  kindly,  promised  to  protect  the  teachers, 
and  went  on  board  the  ship  to  conduct  them 
to  the  shore.  But  during  the  night  these 
teachers  were  so  badly  abused  that  in  the  morn- 


36  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH  SEAS. 

ing  they  returned  to  the  boat  and  were  not  will- 
ing to  go  back  to  the  island.  Then  Papeiha 
came  nobly  to  the  front.  "  I  will  stay  here,"  he 
said,  "if  you  will  send  my  friend  Tiberio  to 
work  with  me.  I  am  not  afraid.  Whether  they 
spare  me  or  kill  me  I  will  land  among  them. 
Jehovah  is  my  shepherd  ;  I  am  in  his  hand." 

So  with  only  his  clothes,  his  little  store  of 
books  and  his  New  Testament,  Papeiha  stepped 
into  a  canoe  and  went  over  to  the  shore.  A 
crowd  of  warriors  gathered  upon  some  rocks 
that  jutted  into  the  water,  and  as  he  stepped 
upon  the  beach  they  lifted  their  spears  ready 
to  hurl  them  at  him ;  but,  either  from  awe  or 
curiosity,  they  dropped  their  arms  and  let  him 
passed  unharmed.  As  he  walked  on  towards  the 
house  of  the  chief  the  people  followed  him  in  a 
body,  one  crying  ;  "  I  '11  have  his  hat ;"  and  an- 
other, "  I  '11  take  his  shirt,"  and  a  third,  "  I  shall 
have  his  jacket."  But  before  they  could  rob  him 
of  his  clothes  they  were  met  by  Makea,  the  king. 

"  Speak  to  us,  O  man,"  he  said  to  Papeiha, 
"  that  we  may  know  the  business  on  which  you 
have  come." 

"  Why,"  replied  Papeiha,  "  I  have  come  to  tell 
you  about  my  God,  and  about  Jesus  Christ,  so 
that  you  may  burn  up  your  idols  as  the  people 
in  all  the  other  islands  are  doing." 

"  Burn  our  gods !"  exclaimed  the  people,  in 


THE   HERVEY   OR   COOK   ISLANDS.  37 

dismay.  "  What  gods  shall  we  have  then,  and 
what  shall  we  do  without  gods?" 

Papeiha  did  not  stop  to  answer  all  their  ques- 
tions just  then,  but  day  after  day,  after  his  com- 
panions had  left  him,  he  patiently  instructed 
them  in  the  learning  of  the  One  who,  as  he 
could  read  in  his  Gospel  of  Matthew,  had  prom- 
ised to  be  with  his  followers  always  and  every- 
where. 

And  that  One  had  been  in  Rarotonga  before 
him.  A  heathen  woman  had  already,  in  some 
manner,  brought  a  little  of  the  gospel  story  from 
Tahiti,  so  far  away.  Makea  had  been  interested, 
and  had  built  an  altar  to  Jehovah ;  so,  like  Paul 
at  Athens,  Papeiha  had  only  to  declare  unto  the 
people  the  Unknown  God  whom  so  ignorantly 
they  were  worshipping.  When  Tiberio,  the 
friend  of  Papeiha,  came  to  Rarotonga,  the  two 
men  did  their  best  to  teach  the  natives  a  better 
religion  than  they  yet  knew.  One  old  chief  was 
anxious  to  learn  how  to  pray,  but  as  the  idea  of 
prayer  was  new  to  him  he  was  a  slow  pupil,  and 
poor  tired  Papeiha  would  sometimes  fall  asleep 
during  the  lesson.  Then  the  chief  would  awa- 
ken him,  saying  piteously :  "  Please  go  over 
it  again  for  me,  for  I  have  forgotten  it." 

Papeiha  told  the  people  that  their  idols  were 
not  gods,  and  that  the  true  God  was  a  Spirit,  and 
could  not  be  seen. 


38  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

"  Oh  !  oh  !"  cried  the  excited  natives.  "  Why 
does  he  talk  like  this  ?  Does  he  think  that  we 
are  blind  ?  He  says  that  his  God  cannot  be  seen  ; 
and  yet  look  at  him  !  He  carries  his  God  about 
with  him.  See  how  he  talks  to  it,  and  what  his 
God  says  to  him  he  tells  us.  Wherever  he  goes 
he  carries  it ;  when  he  sleeps  he  has  it  near  him. 
That  is  his  God." 

What  the  people  thought  was  Papeiha's  God 
was  simply  his  little  New  Testament  that  he 
had  always  near  him,  and  when  he  was  reading 
it  they  believed  that  it  was  talking  to  him. 

But  after  a  while  they  began  to  see  things 
more  clearly,  and  at  last  one  of  the  priests  de- 
cided to  destroy  his  idols.  He  brought  his  little 
boy  and  placed  him  under  the  care  of  the  teach- 
ers, lest  some  evil  should  befall  him  on  account 
of  this  daring  act,  and  then  went  home  and  came 
back  staggering  under  the  weight  of  the  god  he 
was  carrying. 

His  friends  told  him  that  he  was  a  madman, 
and  begged  him  not  to  put  himself  in  so  much 
danger,  and  when  a  saw  was  brought  out,  with 
which  to  cut  the  sacred  object  to  pieces,  they  all 
fled  in  great  alarm,  thinking  that  the  end  of  all 
things  had  come.  But  when  they  saw  that  the 
priest  went  on  with  his  work  and  then  threw  the 
bits  of  wood  into  a  large  fire,  where  they  quietly 
burned  to  ashes,  and  nothing  terrible  came  upon 


THE   HERVEY   OR   COOK   ISLANDS.  39 

him,  they  made  up  their  minds  that  their  idols, 
too,  were  good  for  nothing,  and  should  meet  the 
same  fate.  In  less  than  ten  days  fourteen  idols 
were  cast  into  the  flames,  and  then  one  of  the 
chiefs  set  fire  to  the  temple.  "  My  heart  has 
taken  hold  of  the  word  of  Jehovah,"  he  said,  as 
a  reason  for  his  conduct. 

The  king  himself  gave  up  his  faith  in  his 
worthless  gods,  and  a  small  chapel  was  built  for 
the  worship  of  Jehovah. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Williams  was  having  his  own 
trials  in  the  island  of  Raiatea.  The  London 
Missionary  Society  had  decided  that,  after  all, 
the  Endeavor  was  an  unnecessary  expense,  and 
with  much  regret  Mr.  Williams  was  obliged  to 
part  from  the  little  vessel  that  had  been  so  help- 
ful to  him.  But  if  he  could  not  go  out  of  Raia- 
tea he  would  work  the  harder  there.  He  began 
to  translate  the  Bible  into  the  native  tongue,  and 
his  wife  formed  a  class  for  poor,  lame,  deaf  or 
blind  old  women,  who  were  neglected  by  the 
people. 

Then  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pitman  came  from  Eng- 
land to  assist  in  the  labor  in  Rarotonga.  "  If  I 
only  had  a  ship,"  said  Mr.  Williams  in  greeting 
to  these  new  workers,  "  not  an  island  in  the  Pa> 
cific  but  I  would,  with  God's  will,  go  to  see,  and 
leave  teachers  there. " 

But  while  he  was  waiting  he  learned  to  make 


40  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

ropes,  which  he  sold  to  captains  of  ships.  In 
1827  he  took  Mr.  Pitman  to  his  field  in  Raroton- 
ga.  He  himself  expected  to  come  back  with  the 
ship,  but  it  had  received  damage  from  a  storm, 
and  the  captain  felt  that  he  must  hasten  home 
and  begin  repairs,  and  could  not  wait  for  Mr. 
Williams. 

John  Williams,  therefore,  took  his  clothes 
and  a  few  other  articles  on  shore,  and  there  he 
stayed  for  twelve  months. 

His  first  work  was  to  move  the  missionary 
settlement  to  a  better  site,  on  the  other  side  of 
the  island.  When  this  was  done,  he  was  asked 
to  seat  himself  outside  of  his  house,  and  then 
a  long  train  of  natives  filed  past  him  and  laid 
their  idols  at  his  feet.  The  smallest  of  these 
images  was  five  feet  long  and  about  four  inches 
in  diameter.  The  next  Sunday  there  was  a 
congregation  of  four  thousand  people,  and  as 
the  chapel  was  too  small  for  the  attendance  it 
was  thought  best  to  build  a  new  one.  In  seven 
weeks  this  house  of  worship  was  completed,  al- 
though five  years  before  not  a  man  on  the  island 
had  ever  seen  an  axe  or  a  plane. 

While  the  chapel  was  building  Mr.  Williams 
made  a  great  stir  among  the  natives  by  writing 
something  on  a  chip  and  sending  it  to  his  wife  ; 
for  when  it  was  found  that  she  understood  the 
message  without  a  word  having  to  be  spoken 


THE    HERVEY   OR   COOK    ISLANDS.  4! 

one  of  the  men  caught  up  the  wonderful  piece 
of  wood,  and  holding  it  high  above  his  head  he 
ran  through  the  village,  shouting,  "  See  the  wis- 
dom of  these  English  people  :  they  can  make 
chips  talk!  They  can  make  chips  talk!" 

Among  the  queer  customs  of  Rarotonga  was 
one  that  allowed  a  son,  so  soon  as  he  was  old 
enough,  to  wrestle  with  his  father  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  property.  Should  he  prove  the 
stronger  he  would  turn  his  parents  out  and 
claim  the  house  and  farm  for  his  own.  If  a  man 
died  all  the  relatives  could  come  to  his  house 
and  take  anything  they  might  wish,  leaving  the 
widow  and  children  to  starve.  To  do  away  with 
these  unfair  practices  Mr.  Williams  brought  out 
the  code  of  laws  used  at  Raiatea,  and  it  was 
adopted  by  the  people. 

It  was  not  luxurious  living  on  these  islands 
of  the  Pacific.  It  was  ten  years  after  their  ar- 
rival before  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Williams  tasted  beef, 
and  then  they  had  lost  their  relish  for  it.  In 
Rarotonga  they  had  nothing  to  eat  for  weeks 
except  a  scanty  supply  of  native  roots. 

For  many  months  no  ship  came  near  the 
island.  But  Mr.  Williams  was  as  full  of  devices 
as  was  Robinson  Crusoe.  As  he  had  no  boat  at 
hand  he  would  make  one  to  suit  himself.  He 
had  no  knowledge  of  ship-building,  except  the 
little  that  he  had  picked  up  here  and  there, 


42  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

and  he  had  few  of  the  necessary  tools.  He  had 
no  saw,  no  oakum,  cordage  or  sail-cloth ;  but  he 
twisted  the  bark  of  the  hibiscus  into  ropes, 
quilted  native  mats  for  sails,  and  constructed  a 
rudder  out  of  a  piece  of  a  pick-axe,  a  cooper's 
adze  and  a  large  hoe.  In  five  months  it  was 
ready  for  use.  He  called  it  the  Messenger  of 
Peace,  and  he  made  a  successful  trial  trip  in 
the  little  vessel  to  Aitutaki  and  back.  On  his 
return  he  found  that  his  devoted  natives  had 
cleared  away  all  the  rubbish  left  by  the  build- 
ing. "  We  will  not  leave  a  chip  against  which 
he  can  strike  his  foot,"  they  said. 

Two  new  missionaries,  named  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Buzacott,  came  to  Rarotonga  in  1828.  They 
set  Mr.  Williams  free  to  go  back  to  Raiatea,  and 
when  there  he  offered  to  lend  his  new  ship  to 
the  London  Missionary  Society,  so  that  they 
might  send  missionaries  to  visit  the  Marquesas 
Islands.  Some  teachers  had  been  placed  upon 
these  islands  by  the  Duff,  on  her  first  voyage, 
although  they  had  had  but  slight  encourage- 
ment so  far. 


THE   SAMOAN  ISLANDS.  43 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SAMOAN  ISLANDS.      OVER  THE  SEA  TO 
SAMOA. 

THE  following  year  Mr.  Williams  went  over 
to  Rurutu,  where  he  met  a  chief  from  another 
island  who  had  been  waiting  two  years  hoping 
to  take  back  a  teacher  to  his  own  land.  While 
away  from  home  his  wife  and  two  children  had 
died,  but  he  would  not  leave  the  spot  until  he 
had  accomplished  his  object. 

After  John  Williams  had  returned  to  Raiatea 
he  immediately  set  about  preparations  for  a  voy- 
age to  the  Samoan  Islands,  which  had  not  yet 
been  reached  by  the  gospel.  This  was  a  plan 
that  he  had  long  had  in  mind,  and  now,  with  the 
nelp  of  the  Messenger  of  Peace,  he  meant  to 
carry  it  out.  The  Samoan  Islands  were  about 
two  thousand  miles  away,  but  that  fact  did  not 
take  the  courage  and  the  determination  out  of 
John  Williams.  Difficulty  and  danger  seemed 
only  to  make  him  more  resolute  and  more 
daring. 

Before  going  to  Samoa  he  visited  the  Her- 
vey  Islands,  although  they  were  out  of  his 
course.  He  stopped  first  at  Mangaia,  to  which 


44  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

two  teachers  had  been  sent  after  Mr.  Williams" 
first  call  at  that  island  five  or  six  years  before, 
and  the  good  missionary  was  delighted  to  be 
welcomed  by  about  five  hundred  Christians,  the 
results  of  the  work  of  these  men. 

These  converts  had  cut  off  their  hair.  The 
heathen  wear  long  hair,  but  as  the  Christians 
wear  their  hair  short  it  had  come  to  be  a  kind  of 
first  step  in  giving  up  heathenism  to  bring  the 
length  of  the  locks  down  to  that  of  those  of  the 
white  men.  In  speaking  of  any  one  who  had 
accepted  the  Christian  religion  the  natives  were 
wont  to  say,  "  Such  a  one  has  cut  his  hair." 
So  John  Williams  felt  sure  of  the  sincerity  of 
the  people  of  Mangaia  because  they  had  been 
willing  to  make  this  sacrifice  in  order  to  be  as 
much  as  possible  like  the  Christians. 

At  Atui,  where  he  next  landed,  a  great  ad- 
vance was  seen  in  all  good  things.  Then  he 
went  on  to  Rarotonga,  where  he  found  that  dur- 
ing his  absence  a  terrible  plague  had  broken 
out  and  nearly  six  hundred  persons  had  died. 
Fortunately  the  missionaries  had  with  them  a 
large  supply  of  medicines,  with  which  they  were 
able  to  give  much  relief.  Then  the  Messenger 
of  Peace  touched  at  Aitutaki,  where  the  converts 
placed  in  his  hands  the  large  sum  of  $515  for 
the  London  Missionary  Society.  This  money 
had  been  made  by  the  sale  of  pigs ;  each  family 


THE   SAMOAN   ISLANDS.  45 

having  dedicated  a  pig  to  the  work  of  "  causing 
the  word  of  God  to  grow,"  and  these  animals 
had  been  sold  to  the  crews  of  the  vessels  that 
had  come  to  Aitutaki. 

With  a  happy  heart  Mr.  Williams  said  good- 
by  to  these  generous  Christian  natives ;  and 
then  off  for  far-away  Samoa. 

Within  five  days  he  reached  Savage  Island, 
which  had  been  so  called  by  Captain  Cook,  who 
had  this  time  hit  the  mark  better  than  he  had 
sometimes  when  naming  the  lands  that  he  dis- 
covered. With  a  good  deal  of  difficulty  a  chief 
was  coaxed  on  board  the  ship,  but  perhaps 
Mr.  Williams  was  sorry  for  his  pressing  invita- 
tion when  he  saw  the  behavior  of  his  guest. 
He  danced  furiously  up  and  down  on  the  deck, 
howling  frightfully,  gnashing  his  teeth  and 
gnawing  his  long  beard.  The  worst  of  it  was 
that  none  of  his  countrymen  seemed  any  bet- 
ter than  he,  and  it  was  no  wonder  that  the  poor 
teachers  lost  heart  and  begged  not  to  be  handed 
over  to  the  mercy  of  such  creatures  as  these. 
All  that  John  Williams  could  do  was  to  persuade 
two  of  the  young  warriors  to  come  away  with 
him  in  his  ship,  hoping  that  they  might  receive 
some  good  influence  and  after  a  while  go  back 
and  teach  their  companions. 

After  a  run  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
the  Messenger  of  Peace  reached  Tonga,  in  the 


46  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

group  of  the  Friendly  Islands,  where,  as  we 
shall  hear  by  and  by,  the  Wesleyan  missionaries 
had  already  begun  to  work.  At  Tonga  Mr.  Wil- 
liams met  Fauea,  a  Samoan  chief  who  had  been 
converted  in  this  place,  and  he  offered  to  take 
the  missionaries  to  his  own  home.  The  Mes- 
senger of  Peace  went  on  to  Lefuga,  another 
island  of  the  same  group,  and  here  the  mission- 
aries came  across  Finau,  a  chief  of  the  Vauvau 
Islands,  where  John  Williams  was  longing  to 
station  a  teacher.  But  Finau  was  not  like  Fauea. 
He  was  not  a  Christian,  and  had  no  wish  that 
anybody  else  should  be  one.  He  held  out  little 
encouragement  to  these  strangers  from  over  the 
sea.  He  did,  indeed,  say  that  he  would  try  to 
protect  the  life  of  any  man  who  should  be  fool- 
ish enough  to  risk  it  among  these  people ;  but 
as  for  the  people,  if  any  of  them  should  be  con- 
verted he  would  at  once  have  them  put  to  death. 
The  outlook  was  not  very  promising,  thought 
John  Williams,  and  it  was  hardly  worth  while 
to  throw  away  any  of  his  teachers  under  these 
conditions.  He  must  lay  aside  his  dreams  for 
Vauvau  for  the  present,  and  hope  for  better 
things  in  the  future.  His  faith  was  to  be  re- 
warded sometime,  for  Savage  Island  and  Vau- 
vau were  both  in  God's  keeping,  and  were  still 
to  own  him  as  king. 

For  seven  days  the  Messenger  of  Peace  was 


THE   SAMOAN   ISLANDS.  47 

tossed  about  in  the  Pacific,  in  the  grasp  of  more 
than  one  violent  storm ;  but  at  last  the  weary 
party  sighted  Savaii,  the  largest  of  the  Samoan, 
or  Navigator  Islands,  as  they  are  sometimes 
called,  perhaps,  as  John  Williams  suggested, 
because  of  the  superior  skill  shown  by  the  na- 
tives in  building  and  navigating  their  canoes. 

These  islands  are  very  beautiful,  with  the 
coral  walls  around  them,  the  stretch  of  silver 
sand  fringed  with  the  foliage  of  the  cocoanut, 
palm  and  banana  trees,  and  the  mountain  slopes 
and  the  cascades  beyond  all  touched  by  the  pe- 
culiar yellow  haze  in  the  atmosphere.  On  the 
shore  of  one  of  these  islands  there  is  a  bay 
called  "Massacre  Bay,"  the  name  coming  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  entered  in  1787  by  a  French 
navigator  whose  crew  was  there  brutally  mur- 
dered by  the  natives. 

In  spite  of  their  cruelty  and  treachery  the 
Samoans  are  naturally  ingenious  in  many  ways. 
Their  boats  are  made  from  pieces  of  bread- 
fruit trees,  neatly  fitted  one  into  another,  and 
then  lashed  together  by  native  twine.  The 
houses  meant  for  public  entertainments  are 
large,  and  shaped  to  look  like  something  be- 
tween round  and  oval.  They  are  formed  of 
two  or  three  large  posts,  fixed  in  the  ground, 
and  a  short  ridge-pole,  from  four  to  six  feet  in 
length,  covered  with  rafters  and  thatch.  The 


48  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

rafters  come  from  the  wood  of  the  breadfruit 
tree,  and  the  leaf  of  the  sugar-cane  is  used  for 
thatching.  These  buildings  are  usually  open  all 
around  at  the  sides,  and  are  covered  with  mats 
for  carpets.  The  dwelling-houses  are  similar  in 
style,  but  lower  and  smaller.  The  Samoans  had 
neither  temples  nor  altars.  Their  religion  con- 
sisted in  a  belief  that  spirits  live  in  certain  ani- 
mals, and  these  animals  were  looked  upon  with 
superstitious  reverence.  Sometimes  a  dignified 
old  man  would  be  seen  bowing  down  to  a  little 
green  lizard.  They  had  some  idea  of  a  Supreme 
Being,  whom  they  regarded  as  the  creator  of  all 
things.  They  called  him  Tangaloa,  and  at  their 
great  feasts,  before  they  began  to  eat,  some 
chief  would  arise  and  say,  "  Thank  you,  great 
Tangaloa,  for  this  food."  The  Samoans  were 
the  only  people  in  Polynesia  who  had  in  their 
language  any  word  for  "Thank  you." 

Just  before  Mr.  Williams  arived  at  Samoa 
it  had  been  declared  by  an  aged  chief  that  the 
worship  of  spirits  would  soon  cease  in  these  isl- 
ands, and  that  shortly  after  his  own  death  a 
great  white  chief  would  come  over  the  water  and 
teach  the  people  a  new  religion.  The  chief  was 
very  wicked  and  very  powerful,  so  that  Fauea 
thought  with  a  sinking  of  his  heart  that  it  would 
be  almost  impossible  for  the  missionaries  to  do 
anything  in  the  face  of  this  evil  old  man.  But 


THE  SAMOAN  ISLANDS.  49 

no  sooner  had  Fauea  landed  than  he  heard  the 
news  of  the  chief's  death,  which  so  delighted  him 
that  he  began  to  dance  about  and  to  sing  with 
joy.  Then  he  took  the  copper-colored  people  of 
his  island  on  board  the  strange  ship  and  showed 
them  how  to  receive  these  new  friends  with 
courtesy  and  kindness.  He  tried  to  impress 
them  with  the  idea  that  the  white  men  were  far 
ahead  of  them  in  every  respect  and  that  they 
must  learn  all  that  they  could  from  them.  The 
people  were  very  curious  about  the  new-comers. 
They  examined  their  dress  with  great  care  and 
earnestness,  and  even  asked  Mr.  Williams  to  pull 
off  his  shoes  so  that  they  might  see  which  part  of 
his  foot  was  skin  and  which  was  leather.  Then 
they  were  horrified  to  find  that  he  seemed  to 
have  no  toes.  Fauea  explained  that  these  supe- 
rior beings  wore  two  kinds  of  covering  over  their 
feet,  and  then  Mr.  Williams  had  to  take  off  his 
stockings  to  prove  that  Fauea  spoke  the  truth. 

When  the  king  of  Samoa  heard  that  the 
vessel  in  the  harbor  was  what  was  called  a 
"  praying  ship  "  he  sent  a  large  quantity  of 
food  on  board  and  refused  to  take  any  pay  for 
it.  Eight  men  with  their  wives  and  children 
then  ventured  to  go  on  shore,  where  they  were 
greeted  by  a  crowd  of  people  bearing  lighted 
torches,  thus  forming  a  sort  of  missionary  torch- 
light procession. 

Heroes  of  the  South  Seas.  A 


50  HEROES  OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

Some  remarkable  customs  were  found  in 
these  islands  also.  One  of  them  was  that  the 
women  expressed  their  grief  at  the  death  of  a 
friend,  not  by  wearing  black  garments,  but  by 
burning  themselves  all  over  in  small  blisters, 
which  they  thought  were  very  ornamental. 
They  were  fond,  too,  of  adorning  themselves 
with  wreaths  and  garlands  of  flowers  and  leaves, 
and  blue  beads  they  admired  so  much  that 
a  large  pig  would  be  readily  given  for  six  of 
them. 

The  morning  after  the  landing  of  the  mis- 
sionaries a  public  meeting  was  held  at  which 
both  the  king  and  his  brother  were  present,  al- 
though there  was  at  that  time  on  the  island  some 
disturbance  and  threatening  of  war  following 
some  trouble  that  had  arisen  in  connection  with 
the  death  of  the  old  chief.  Both  men  promised 
to  take  good  care  of  the  teachers  that  should  be 
left  with  them,  and  before  the  ship  sailed  a 
giant  chief  from  a  neighboring  island  came  over 
and  pleaded  that  he  might  have  a  teacher  for 
his  people.  "  I  will  make  them  listen  and  learn," 
he  said  earnestly. 

"  There  are  two  little  words  in  our  language 
that  I  have  always  admired,"  said  Mr.  Williams, 
as  he  set  sail  from  Samoa.  "  They  are  '  Trust ' 
and  '  Try.'  "  Certainly  he  had  reason  to  believe 
in  the  motto  if  anybody  ever  had,  for  he  was  al- 


THE   SAMOAN    ISLANDS.  5  I 

ways  ready  to  act  upon  its  advice  and  knew 
the  result  of  doing  so. 

Owing  to  the  contrary  winds  he  could  not 
stop  at  Savage  Island  on  his  way  home,  so  he 
pushed  on  to  Rarotonga.  The  plague  had  dis- 
appeared, and  Rarotonga  was  again  Rarotonga, 
as  one  man  said.  Then  the  ship  called  at  Ei- 
meo,  where,  as  in  the  old  days  in  Antioch,  when 
Paul  returned  from  his  missionary  journey,  the 
disciples  gathered  to  hear  of  the  adventures 
and  experiences  of  the  one  who  had  been  on  a 
tour  among  the  heathen. 

About  this  time  Tamatoa,  the  old  king  of 
Raiatea,  died.  His  last  words  were,  "  Beware 
lest  the  gospel  be  driven  from  these  islands." 
In  1831  John  Williams  again  visited  Rarotonga, 
and  from  that  place  started  on  a  voyage  among 
all  the  islands  of  the  Hervey  group.  "  The 
natives  cling  round  him,  and  he  seems  really 
one  with  them,  "  said  the  missionaries  who  went 
with  him. 

On  his  return  to  Rarotonga  he  set  to  work 
to  finish  his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the 
native  tongue,  but  he  was  interrupted  by  a 
fearful  hurricane,  which  hurled  down  one  thou- 
sand houses  and  helped  the  sea  to  pick  up  the 
poor  little  Messenger  of  Peace  in  its  arms  and 
wash  it  several  miles  inland,  dropping  it  at  last 
in  a  hole  five  feet  deep.  Some  of  the  natives 


52  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

declared  that  the  storm  was  the  fault  of  the 
Christians,  and  made  that  an  excuse  for  going 
back  to  their  old  ways.  Others  comforted  them- 
selves with  the  thought  that  the  Bible  was  left  to 
them  at  any  rate.  Mr.  Williams  diverted  their 
minds  by  putting  them  to  work  to  repair  dam- 
ages, but  it  was  a  month  or  two  before  the 
Messenger  of  Peace  could  be  dug  out  and  again 
set  afloat.  When  once  more  in  the  water,  Mr. 
Williams  took  the  boat  over  to  Tahiti  to  obtain 
provisions  for  the  hungry  Rarotongans,  whose 
crops  had  been  destroyed. 

At  Raiatea  Mr.  Williams  had  to  form  a  tem- 
perance society,  to  withstand  the  evil  influence 
of  the  introduction  of  whiskey  by  a  trading  ves- 
sel. He  carried  back  with  him  to  Rarotonga 
several  barrels  of  flour,  and  with  them  as  much 
food  as  he  could,  buying  various  articles  from  an 
American  captain.  He  had  with  him,  besides, 
some  horses,  donkeys  and  horned  cattle.  These 
animals  amazed  the  natives,  who  had  never 
before  seen  anything  like  them,  and  they  gave 
them  very  queer  names.  The  horse  they  called 
"the  great  pig  that  carries  the  man;"  the  don- 
key, "  the  noisy  pig,"  or  "  the  long-eared  pig  ;" 
and  the  dog,  "the  barking  pig."  All  of  these 
things  were  of  great  service  to  the  people  of 
Rarotonga,  and  so  helped  the  missionaries  in 
bringing  the  gospel  to  them. 


THE   SAMOAN    ISLANDS.  53 

In  1832  Mr.  Williams  made  another  voyage 
to  Samoa.  On  this  trip,  Makea,  king  of  Raro- 
tonga,  went  with  him,  as  well  as  a  native  convert 
named  Teara.  As  they  started  forth  on  their 
missionary  tour  Teara  expressed  his  feelings 
in  a  beautiful  prayer,  which  it  is  hard  to  realize 
came  from  the  lips  of  a  man  who  nine  years 
before  had  been  a  cannibal. 

"If  we  fly  to  heaven,"  he  said,  "there,  O 
God,  we  shall  find  thee  ;  if  we  dwell  upon  land, 
thou  art  there  also ;  if  we  sail  on  the  sea,  thou 
art  here.  This  affords  us  comfort,  so  that  we  sail 
upon  the  ocean  without  fear,  because  thou,  O 
God,  art  in  our  ship.  The  king  of  our  bodies 
has  his  subjects  to  whom  he  issues  his  orders, 
but  if  he  himself  goes  with  them  his  presence 
stimulates  their  zeal,  they  work  with  energy, 
they  do  it  readily  and  they  do  it  well.  O  Lord, 
thou  art  the  King  of  our  spirits  ;  thou  hast  issued 
orders  to  thy  subjects  to  do  a  great  work :  thou 
hast  commanded  them  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  We  are  going  on  that  errand 
now.  Let  thy  presence  go  with  us  to  quicken 
us  and  enable  us  to  persevere  in  the  great  work 
until  we  die.  Thou  hast  said  that  thy  presence 
shall  go  with  thy  people  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world.  Fulfil,  O  Lord,  to  us  this  cheering 
promise.  I  see,  O  Lord,  a  compass  in  this  ves- 
sel by  which  the  seamen  steer  the  right  course 


54  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

that  we  may  escape  destruction  and  danger.  Be 
to  us,  O  Lord,  like  this  compass,  our  Guide  and 
our  Saviour." 

Teara  became  a  faithful  worker  and  was  a 
great  help  to  the  missionaries,  and  always  an 
honor  to  the  Master  whom  he  trusted  so  well. 

John  Williams  hoped  that  this  time  he  might 
visit  every  island  in  the  Samoan  group.  He 
stopped  at  several  of  them,  and  in  many  places 
he  found  people  who,  in  various  ways,  had  caught 
echoes  of  the  gospel  story  from  other  islands 
and  were  longing  for  a  "  religion  ship  "  to  come 
along  and  bring  them  teachers  for  themselves. 
Some  of  them  had  begun  to  follow  in  the  steps 
of  the  missionaries,  and  were  trying,  so  far  as 
they  knew  how,  to  live  the  Christian  life,  calling 
themselves  "  Sons  of  the  Word." 

In  one  spot  Mr.  Williams  was  met  by  a 
chief  who  hailed  him  with  these  words  :  "  You 
needn't  be  afraid  of  us;  we  are  Christians." 

"Christians?"  asked  Mr.  Williams.  "Why, 
what  do  you  know  about  being  Christians  ?" 

"Why,"  answered  the  man,  "there  was  a 
great  chief  from  the  white  man's  country,  whose 
name  was  Williams,  who  came  to  Savaii  about 
twenty  moons  ago  and  placed  there  some  work- 
ers of  religion  ;  and  some  of  our  people  who 
were  there  have  come  home  and  taught  us  what 
he  taught  them." 


THE   SAMOAN   ISLANDS.  5$ 

Then  he  showed  Mr.  Williams  a  little  chapel 
that  had  been  built  and  told  him  that  there  were 
fifty  persons  in  the  congregation.  The  Chris- 
tians were  distinguished  from  the  other  natives 
by  a  piece  of  white  cloth  worn  by  each  one 
around  the  arm. 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Williams,  "  I  am  that  white 
man  ;  but  who  preaches  to  the  people  here  ?" 

"Oh,"  replied  the  man,  "  I  go  over  to  the  mis- 
sion station  once  in  a  while  and  get  some  relig- 
ion which  I  bring  carefully  home  and  give  to  the 
people.  Then,  when  that  is  gone,  I  take  my  ca- 
noe and  go  and  fetch  some  more.  Now,  wont 
you  give  me  a  man  full  of  religion,  so  that  I 
sha'n't  have  to  risk  my  life  going  so  far  to 
get  it  ?" 

Mr.  Williams  was  touched  by  this  appeal, 
and  promised  to  send  soon  to  this  earnest  work- 
er some  man  who  would  be  "  full  of  religion," 
and  be  able  to  teach  and  to  help  these  dark 
brothers  who  were  striving  to  walk  in  the 
right  way. 


56  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   SAMOAN  AND    LOYALTY   ISLANDS:    THE   CAP- 
TAIN'S  LAST   VOYAGE. 

IT  was  Sunday  when  Mr.  Williams  landed  at 
the  principal  settlement  at  Savaii,  and  he  went 
directly  to  church,  where  he  preached  to  seven 
hundred  people.  It  was  the  wildest  congrega- 
tion he  had  ever  seen.  Some  chiefs  had  mats 
over  their  shoulders  or  tied  around  their  waists, 
and  their  long,  stiff  hair  stood  out  like  the 
prickles  of  a  hedgehog.  Some  persons  had  long 
frizzled  locks,  and  others  had  their  hair  tied  up 
in  huge  balls  on  the  top  of  their  heads.  After 
the  afternoon  service  one  of  the  native  teachers 
made  an  address,  and  told  the  people  that  Mr. 
Williams  had  come  to  prove  to  them  that  that 
which  had  been  taught  them  was  true.  Then  up 
rose  the  king  and  said,  "  For  my  part,  my  whole 
soul  shall  be  given  to  the  word  of  Jehovah,  and 
I  will  use  my  utmost  endeavors  that  the  word  of 
Jehovah  shall  encircle  the  land." 

In  the  evening  Mr.  Williams  himself 
preached,  and  this  time  he  had  about  one  thou- 
sand hearers.  After  the  meeting  he  sat  down 
alone  and  composed  three  hymns  for  the  use  of 


THE   SAMOAN  AND   LOYALTY   ISLANDS.         57 

the  Samoans,  one  of  which  is  given  here,  as  it 
reads  in  the  translation  : 

"  Great  is  his  compassion, 
His  mercy  to  us. 
Great  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ 
To  die  upon  the  earth. 

"  A  beloved  Son  was  Jesus  Christ, 
A  very  good  Son  ; 
But  he  died  down  here  below 
To  obtain  salvation  for  us. 

"  Let  us  every  one  believe 
With  our  whole  hearts, 
That  our  souls  may  obtain  salvation 
When  Jesus  Christ  shall  come." 

As  the  king  had  decided  to  give  up  idolatry, 
the  god  of  war,  which  was  only  a  piece  of  old 
matting  carried  in  the  canoe  of  the  leader  in 
time  of  war,  was  sentenced  to  be  drowned.  The 
people  felt  that  it  would  be  too  dreadful  and  dis- 
graceful a  death  for  it  to  be  thrown  into  the  fire 
and  burned.  This  mat  was  rescued  by  Mr.  Will- 
iams, who  took  it  to  England  and  had  it  placed  in 
the  museum  of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 

One  great  trouble  that  the  teachers  found  in 
trying  to  educate  the  people  was  the  laziness  of 
the  natives.  When  they  had  worked  for  five 
minutes  at  the  alphabet  they  would  say :  "Oh, 
how  tired  we  are!  Let  us  put  it  away!"  One 
man  excused  himself  from  study  by  saying 


58  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

grandly :  "  Yes,  writing  very  good  for  captain  ; 
but  Samoan  more  clever ;  he  can  keep  things  in 
his  head  ;  he  no  need  writing." 

This  was  rather  discouraging,  of  course ;  but 
there  were  some  hopeful  things  as  well. 

One  day  Mr.  Williams  set  out  to  pay  a  visit 
to  a  village  not  far  from  the  capital,  and  before 
he  reached  the  place  he  was  met  by  a  long  pro- 
cession of  women  each  carrying  a  present  in 
her  hand.  The  leader  was  a  woman  who  had 
become  a  Christian,  and  who  had  led  nearly  one 
hundred  other  women  to  follow  her  example. 
They  had  now  formed  in  line  to  go  out  to 
greet  the  man  who  had  been  the  one  from 
whom  the  message  had  come  to  them  through 
those  whom  he  had  taught.  They  brought  him 
a  baked  pig,  some  cocoanuts,  and  other  things 
besides.  They  were  strangely  attired,  in  red 
and  white  mats,  and  were  decorated  with  strings 
of  blue  beads.  But  John  Williams  was  pleased 
with  their  gratitude  and  their  efforts  to  do  what 
they  thought  was  right,  especially  as  they  had 
no  sympathy  from  their  husbands  because,  as 
they  said  sadly,  "  They  are  not  yet  '  Sons  of  the 
Word.'  " 

Among  the  Samoan  Islands  is  one  that  is 
small  and  oblong,  and  can  be  reached  only  by 
a  narrow  channel  lying  between  high  rocks.  If 
people  of  the  neighboring  island,  where  the 


THE  SAMOAN   AND   LOYALTY  ISLANDS.        59 

giant  chief  lived,  are  defeated  in  battle,  they 
run  across  to  this  island,  throw  a  bridge  over 
the  chasm,  from  which  they  can  hurl  stones  at 
the  enemy,  and  lay  a  tripping-line  along  the 
water,  so  that  no  canoe  can  enter  the  passage 
without  being  upset. 

They  call  themselves  Malo,  or  Victorious, 
and  keep  a  record  of  their  wars  by  dropping  art 
oddly  shaped  stone  into  a  basket  after  each 
victory.  When  Mr.  Williams  stopped  at  this 
island  the  basket  held  one  hundred  and  seven 
stones.  Here  the  Messenger  of  Peace  was  al- 
most wrecked,  but  escaped  uninjured. 

The  ship  next  touched  at  Apia,  on  the  isl- 
and of  Upolu,  where  about  eighty  Christians 
were  found,  and  then  called  at  Keppel's  Island, 
where  a  report  was  given  of  a  teacher  who  had 
influenced  about  five  hundred  natives  to  turn 
to  Christianity.  Then  Mr.  Williams  went  on 
to  Vauvau,  in  the  Friendly  Islands,  where  he 
learned  with  joy  that  some  Wesleyan  Mission- 
aries had  managed  to  settle,  in  spite  of  the  fierce 
chief  Finau,  and  that  the  whole  island  was 
Christianized. 

The  voyage  from  Vauvau  to  Tonga  was  a 
rough  and  dangerous  one.  The  ship  sprang  a 
leak,  and  storms  fell  upon  the  passengers.  But 
at  Tonga  the  trouble  was  remedied,  and  on  the 
fifth  of  December  the  Messenger  of  Peace  was 


60  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH  SEAS. 

off  on  her  homeward  voyage.  She  reached 
Rarotonga  after  an  absence  of  fifteen  weeks. 

Mr.  Williams  now  resolved  to  take  a  little 
vacation  and  go  home,  as  he  had  been  away  from 
England  for  eighteen  years ;  so  he  sold  his  faith- 
ful little  vessel,  and  went  back  to  his  native  land. 

A  very  warm  welcome  they  gave  him,  there 
in  old  England,  and  he  had  a  great  deal  to  tell 
about  his  life  and  work  down  in  the  Pacific. 
He  had  written  an  account  of  it  all,  and  now 
had  the  book  published  under  the  name  of 
"  Missionary  Enterprises  in  the  South  Seas." 
Every  body  was  eager  to  read  it,  and  thirty, 
six  thousand  copies  were  sold  in  five  years. 
He  also  raised  money  enough  to  buy  a  ship, 
which  was  called  the  Camden,  and  then,  not 
willing  to  spend  any  more  time  in  talking  about 
the  past,  or  in  enjoying  the  present  among  his 
fond  and  admiring  friends  at  home,  his  heart 
began  to  reach  out  after  those  dark  people  in 
the  Pacific  Islands,  and  he  made  ready  for  an- 
other voyage.  On  the  eleventh  of  April,  1838, 
he  set  forth  again  for  the  South  Seas. 

He  went  first  to  Samoa,  and  chose  Upolu  as 
the  future  mission  station.  Then  he  visited 
Rarotonga,  and  left  there  five  thousand  copies 
of  the  New  Testament  and  made  some  arrange- 
ments for  starting  a  college  for  the  training  of 
native  converts  as  teachers.  He  stopped  too 


THE  SAMOAN  AND    LOYALTY  ISLANDS.        6l 

at  other  islands,  going  at  last  to  Raiatea,  where, 
with  the  exception  of  two  short  trips  to  Samoa, 
he  stayed  until  he  went  off  on  his  final  voyage. 

The  evening  before  he  set  out  on  this  last 
journey  an  old  blind  chief  came  to  him  and 
begged  to  be  taken  with  him. 

"Teacher  Williams,"  said  the  old  man,  "I 
am  a  blind  man,  but  I  have  a  great  desire  to  go 
with  you  to  the  dark  lands.  Perhaps  my  being 
blind  will  make  them  pity  me,  and  not  kill  me, 
and  while  I  can  talk  to  them,  and  tell  them  of 
Jesus,  my  boy  here  can  read  and  write,  and  so 
we  can  teach  them  something." 

Of  course  the  poor  old  blind  man  could  not 
go  on  the  long  perilous  voyage,  but  brave  ten- 
der-hearted John  Williams  was  much  touched 
by  his  devotion  and  earnestness,  and  no  doubt 
the  simple,  honest,  loving  words  came  back  to 
him  with  cheer  and  comfort  during  the  follow- 
ing weeks  on  the  stormy  sea,  as  he  sailed  on  to- 
wards the  last  harbor  that  he  should  make  until 
he  should  anchor  in  the  quiet  haven  of  the 
heavenly  home. 

On  the  third  of  November,  1839,  he  preached 
his  farewell  sermon,  the  text  of  which  was  from 
Acts  20:36-38:  "And  they  all  wept  sore,  and 
fell  upon  Paul's  neck  and  kissed  him,  sorrow- 
ing most  of  all  for  the  words  which  he  spake, 
that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more." 


62  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

Did  he  feel,  himself,  the  great-hearted  captain, 
that  he  should  never  come  back  to  these  true 
friends  of  his?  At  any  rate,  he  bade  them  good- 
by  and  sailed  away  for  the  New  Hebrides,  where 
he  had  long  wished  to  scatter  some  gospel  seed. 
After  a  run  of  six  hundred  miles  the  Camden 
made  Rovuma  on  the  twelfth  of  November. 
The  next  day  Mr.  Williams  and  his  companions 
went  on  to  the  New  Hebrides.  On  the  seven- 
teenth of  November  they  sighted  Fortuna.  The 
natives  were  gathering  in  groups  and  making 
signs  for  the  ship  to  come  near.  A  chief,  tricked 
out  in  bracelets,  and  with  rings  of  tortoise-shell 
in  his  ears,  came  on  board,  and  after  a  while  a 
bay  was  found  where  the  passengers  might  land. 
The  natives  seemed  very  friendly,  but  nobody 
could  be  found  who  would  go  with  the  Camden 
to  Tanna.  On  the  evening  of  the  nineteenth 
the  ship  was  lying  off  Erromanga.  Mr.  Wil- 
liams said  that  as  Samoa  was  now  well  supplied 
with  missionaries  he  had  thought  of  making  his 
home  here,  but  the  next  morning  he  had 
changed  his  mind  and  decided  to  go  on  to 
Aneityum,  the  most  southerly  island  in  the 
group.  Still  he  wished  to  go  on  shore,  so  the 
small  boat  was  lowered,  and  with  two  men, 
named  Harris  and  Cunningham,  he  pulled  away 
for  land.  They  all  rambled  along  the  beach,  as 
the  natives  seemed  to  be  kindly  disposed  toward 


THE   SAMOAN   AND    LOYALTY   ISLANDS.  63 

them.  Mr.  Williams  gave  some  of  them  fish- 
hooks and  a  few  small  pieces  of  calico,  and 
they  took  them  with  no  sign  of  anything  but 
peaceable  feelings.  Mr.  Harris  wandered  on  by 
himself,  and  was  lost  to  sight  in  the  bush,  when 
suddenly  there  was  a  shriek  from  the  savages  in 
that  direction  and  Mr.  Harris  was  seen  to  be 
running  towards  the  water  with  the  natives  in 
hot  pursuit.  He  was  struck  down  by  their  clubs 
and  spears,  and  Mr.  Cunningham  called  to  Mr. 
Williams  to  take  flight,  but  he  could  not  bear  to 
desert  his  friend,  so  paused  a  moment  to  see  if 
there  were  any  hope  of  helping  him.  The  delay 
cost  John  Williams  his  life.  He  heard  the  war- 
shell  blown,  and  the  war-cry  sounded  in  his  ears, 
and  then  the  savages  were  upon  him.  They 
followed  him  into  the  water,  where  they  soon 
caught  him  and  murdered  him  in  the  same  way 
as  they  had  his  fellow  soldier.  The  men  in  the 
ship  were  unable  to  lift  a  finger  for  his  rescue, 
but  their  hearts  were  almost  broken  when  they 
saw  that  he  was  really  dead.  They  could  hardly 
believe  that  their  leader  would  be  among  them 
no  more. 

The  grief  of  the  people  of  Samoa  when  they 
heard  the  sad  news  is  almost  impossible  to  de- 
scribe. "  Alas,  Williams  !  Alas,  our  father  !" 
they  cried,  in  sorrow  and  distress.  A  monument 
was  set  up  at  Apia  bearing  this  inscription : 


64  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  John  Wil- 
liams, father  of  the  Samoan  and  other  mis- 
sions, aged  forty-three  years  and  five  months, 
who  was  killed  by  the  cruel  natives  of  Erro- 
manga,  on  November  twentieth,  1839,  while  en- 
deavoring to  plant  the  Gospel  of  Peace  on  their 
shores." 

But  John  Williams  had  a  still  better  monu- 
ment in  the  work  that  had  been  accomplished 
among  the  islands  that  he  loved  so  well.  When 
he  died  there  were  in  Raiatea,  in  place  of  the  old 
huts  and  poor  little  villages,  English-looking 
cottages,  each  one  with  its  own  garden  ;  and  in- 
stead of  wild,  ignorant  savages  there  were  well- 
dressed  children,  with  book  and  slate  in  hand, 
going  back  and  forth  from  school.  On  Sundays 
there  were  many  people  on  their  way  to  church, 
with  their  Bibles  and  their  hymn-books  tied  up 
in  their  handkerchiefs,  in  South  Sea  Island  fash- 
ion, and  there  were  few  households  in  which 
family  worship  was  not  a  regular  part  of  the 
opening  and  the  closing  of  each  day.  It  is 
much  the  same  with  the  other  islands  of  the 
group. 

Then  there  was  Rarotonga.  In  two  years 
heathenism  had  been  swept  off  the  island.  One 
old  man  of  this  place  used  to  say  that  he  had 
lived  through  the  reign  of  four  kings.  "  During 
the  first,"  he  said,  "we  were  always  at  war. 


THE   SAMOAN  AND    LOYALTY    ISLANDS.         65 

During  the  second,  we  were  almost  destroyed  by 
a  great  famine.  During  the  third,  we  were  the 
prey  of  two  other  settlements.  But  during  this 
reign  we  were  visited  by  another  King ;  a  good 
King ;  a  powerful  King  ;  a  King  of  love  :  Jesus, 
the  Lord  from  heaven.  He  has  gained  the  vic- 
tory. He  has  conquered  our  hearts.  We  are  all 
his  subjects.  Therefore  we  now  have  peace  and 
plenty  in  this  world,  and  hope  soon  to  dwell 
with  him  in  heaven." 

The  natives  of  Rarotonga  have  carried  the 
gospel  to  the  Loyalty  Islands,  to  New  Caledonia 
and  to  New  Guinea.  These  native  teachers 
have  far  more  influence  with  the  people  than 
have  the  white  men.  They  are  simple  and  ear- 
nest, and  their  hearts  are  all  in  the  work.  They 
have  been  trained  as  warriors,  and  they  know 
how  to  obey  and  to  give  their  minds  to  what 
they  are  doing. 

"  We  are  now  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ," 
they  say,  "tell  us  what  he  would  like  us  to  do." 
If  they  are  told  that  their  Master  would  not  wish 
them  to  go  to  a  certain  place,  they  answer  at 
once,  "  Then  we  wont  go  ;"  or  if  some  one  says, 
"  He  would  be  sorry  to  hear  you  use  such  lan- 
guage," they  reply,  "  Then  we  wont  say  that  any 
more ;"  or  if  it  is  hinted  that  he  would  rather 
not  have  them  do  a  certain  thing,  they  still  re- 
spond, "  Then  we  wont  do  it."  No  wonder  that 

Heroes  of  the  South  ^eas.  £J 


66  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

they  can  win  a  hearing  from  others  when  they 
learn  so  well  their  own  lessons. 

One  of  the  converts  of  Rarotonga  longed  to 
work  for  others  just  as  his  teacher,  John  Wil- 
liams, had  worked  ;  so  in  the  ship  named  after 
the  good  captain  this  man  Pao  went  to  Mari, 
an  island  about  fifty  miles  from  Lifu,  in  the  Loy- 
alty group.  He  was  to  stay  and  study  with 
the  missionaries  who  were  stationed  there  and 
then  go  on  to  Lifu.  But  Pao  learned  the  lan- 
guage as  quickly  as  he  could,  and  then,  persuad- 
ing a  native  of  Mari  to  accompany  him,  he  set 
out  in  a  canoe  for  Lifu,  feeling  that  he  could 
wait  no  longer.  He  was  received  in  a  friendly 
manner  by  the  natives,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
they  were  all  cannibals.  The  medicine  men,  it 
is  true,  did  not  like  him  very  well ;  they  feared 
that  he  would  interfere  with  their  business ;  but 
he  did  succeed  in  interesting  most  of  the  people, 
and  even  made  friends  with  their  enemies  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  island.  In  course  of 
time  whole  villages  burned  their  idols  and 
placed  themselves  under  Christian  teaching,  and 
in  twelve  years  the  whole  population  of  about 
ten  thousand  had  accepted  the  gospel.  The 
language  was  reduced  to  writing,  and  a  school- 
book,  catechism,  hymn-book,  and  the  New  Tes- 
tament and  Psalms  were  translated  into  the  na- 
tive tongue,  for  by  this  time  other  missionaries 


THE   SAMOAN   AND   LOYALTY   ISLANDS.        67 

had  come  over  to  help.  Schools  and  churches 
were  built  in  almost  every  village,  and  were  filled 
with  those  who  were  eager  to  hear  and  to  learn. 
A  seminary  had  been  started  for  the  education 
of  native  pastors  and  teachers,  and  a  missionary 
society  had  been  formed  that  had  sent  workers 
to  New  Caledonia  and  the  New  Hebrides.  The 
natives  had  good  houses,  fine  roads,  and  many  of 
the  conveniences  and  comforts  of  civilized  life. 
Several  European  shops  had  been  opened,  and 
traders  often  visited  the  island. 

The  French  have  also  interfered  with  work 
in  the  Loyalty  Islands.  The  French  governor 
of  Lifu  asked  one  of  the  native  teachers,  "  Who 
told  you  to  come  here  ?"  "  My  Master  said  to 
me,  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  to  preach  the 
gospel.'  That  is  what  brought  me  here,"  re- 
plied the  man.  This  reply  was  thought  im- 
pudent, and  the  teacher  was  imprisoned  for 
three  days  and  then  sent  away.  In  Mari,  a 
missionary  who  had  labored  there  for  thirty- 
four  years  was  obliged  to  leave  his  charge,  and 
the  French  government  does  all  in  its  power 
to  defeat  the  aims  of  the  Protestants.  Still  the 
converts  are  true  to  their  teaching. 

As  for  the  church  at  Samoa,  it  has  always 
been  overflowing  with  missionary  spirit.  Those 
people  have  taken  the  gospel  to  the  Tokelan  and 
Ellice  Islands  and  to  the  Gilbert  Islands,  south 


68  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

of  the  Equator,  and  under  the  direction  of  theh 
missionaries,  Mr.  A.  Murray  and  Mr.  George 
Turner,  they  began  work  in  the  New  Hebrides. 
That  dreadful  Savage  Island,  too,  where  John 
Williams  dared  not  land,  has  been  completely 
Christianized  through  their  efforts. 

It  was  in  1861  that  a  party  set  out  for  the 
Ellice  group,  but  the  frail  vessel  being  over- 
taken by  a  storm  was  driven  about  by  winds 
and  currents  for  eight  weeks.  At  the  end  of 
that  time  the  crew  stumbled  upon  one  of  the 
Ellice  Islands,  where  they  found  that  the  people 
had  gained  a  little  religious  knowledge  from 
the  sailors  of  a  trading-vessel  and  had  burned 
their  idols.  They  were  so  hungry  for  the  Bible 
that  one  of  the  new  comers  had  to  tear  apart 
his  Rarotongan  New  Testament,  and  give  it  out 
in  bits  to  the  natives. 

From  this  spot  the  gospel  was  carried  to 
other  islands.  In  one  place  the  people  had  ob- 
tained a  copy  of  the  English  Bible,  which  they 
kept  wrapped  in  a  large  cotton  handkerchief 
during  the  week,  but  which  on  Sunday  was 
brought  out  and  laid  open  in  sight  of  the  natives, 
who  gathered  round  it  and  sang  songs  taught 
them  by  some  visitors. 

The  Samoans  now  have  the  whole  Bible  in 
their  own  tongue,  a  school  for  native  teachers 
and  preachers,  and  besides  having  built  their 


THE   SAMOAN  AND   LOYALTY   ISLANDS.         69 

own  churches  and  pastors'  houses  they  have 
sent  $6,500  every  year  to  the  London  Mission- 
ary Society  to  help  carry  on  its  work.  In  1892 
they  gave  $9,000  as  a  thank  offering  for  having 
the  gospel  themselves.  They  have  a  beautiful 
custom  in  their  churches  of  keeping  on  their 
books  the  names  of  members  who  have  diedt 
with  a  mark  following  each  one  which  means 
that  they  will  not  think  of  that  one  as  dead 
either  to  them  or  to  the  cause,  and  a  contribtion 
will  always  be  made  for  him  by  his  friends. 

The  Christian  population  is  thirty-six  thou- 
sand, among  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  In 
the  largest  of  the  islands  there  are  not  fifty  fami- 
lies where  morning  and  evening  worship  is  not 
a  daily  custom.  There  is  a  great  demand  for 
the  pocket  edition  of  the  Bible.  A  large  num- 
ber were  sold  in  a  short  time,  and  there  was  a 
call  for  five  thousand  more. 

The  king  of  Samoa  has  recently  issued  an 
order  that  no  intoxicating  drink  whatever  shall 
be  given,  sold,  or  offered  to  be  bought  or  bartered 
by  any  native  Samoan,  or  any  Pacific  Islander 
resident  in  Samoa. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  the  distinguished 
writer,  who  lived  for  a  long  time  in  Samoa,  said 
that  when  he  went  there  he  was  much  prejudiced 
against  missions,  but  after  having  seen  them  on 
their  own  ground  his  objections  vanished,  and 


70  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

lie  felt  instead  a  great  regard  and  admiration  for 
the  work.  He  advises  anybody  who  has  any 
ideas  like  those  he  once  held  to  try  the  same 
cure  and  study  missions  on  the  spot. 

And  so  John  Williams  lived  long  enough  to 
be  able  to  say  that  there  was  no  island  within 
two  thousand  miles  of  Tahiti  that  had  not  heard 
the  gospel  story,  and  when  he  fell  by  the  hand 
of  the  savages  the  work  was  taken  up  and  carried 
on  by  others  who  were  led  by  his  example  or 
who  had  been  trained  by  him.  What  that  old 
missionary,  Paul,  said  about  himself  would,  with 
a  little  change  of  name,  be  true  of  John  Wil- 
liams: "I  have  planted,  Apollos  watered,  but 
God  gave  the  increase."  i  Cor.  3  : 6. 

When  the  Bishop  of  Ripon  laid  down  the 
story  of  John  Williams'  life  he  said,  "  I  have 
now  been  reading  the  twenty-ninth  chapter  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles." 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.  71 


CHAPTER    V. 

NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS  :   ISL- 
ANDS UNWORTHY  OF   THEIR   NAME. 

BEFORE  going  on  to  the  Friendly  Islands 
to  take  up  the  work  there  with  the  Wesleyan 
missionaries,  of  whom  we  have  already  had  a 
glimpse  or  two,  we  must  stop  at  big  New  Zea- 
land, and  see  what  is  going  on  at  that  place. 

New  Zealand  is  really  made  up  of  two  large 
islands  and  several  smaller  ones.  The  whole 
group  is  nearly  one  thousand  miles  long  and 
two  hundred  miles  broad.  The  cluster  was  first 
found  by  the  Dutch  navigator,  Tasman,  in  1642, 
and  was  afterward  visited  by  Capt.  Cook,  in 
1769. 

The  inhabitants  were  called  Maoris,  and  they 
are  supposed  to  have  come  originally  from  the 
Samoan  Islands.  The  men  were  usually  about 
five  feet,  six  inches  high,  and  weighed  about 
one  hundred  and  forty  pounds.  The  hair  of  the 
New  Zealanders  was  generally  coarse  and  black, 
although  sometimes  it  was  a  rusty  red.  Their 
eyes  were  dark  brown,  and  their  skin  was  olive- 
brown,  in  some  cases  almost  black.  They  were 
savages  and  cannibals,  like  so  many  of  their 


72  HEROES  OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

neighbors,  tattooing  themselves  by  way  of  adorn- 
ment, and  killing  one  another  by  way  of  pas- 
time. They  used  to  thrust  pebbles  down  the 
throats  of  their  children,  in  order,  as  they  hoped, 
to  make  their  hearts  hard  and  pitiless. 

They  were  very  superstitious,  and  when  they 
were  ill  they  believed  that  their  god  came  to 
them  in  the  form  of  a  lizard,  and,  entering  the 
side,  gnawed  at  the  organs  that  were  necessary 
to  life.  When  a  person  had  a  pain  in  his  back 
he  would  lie  down  and  ask  another  man  to  jump 
over  him  and  then  stamp  upon  him  to  press  out 
the  pain. 

Their  houses  were  built  of  bulrushes,  and 
were  lined  with  the  leaves  of  the  palm-tree 
neatly  braided  together.  They  were  about  four 
or  five  feet  high.  The  people  had  no  furniture, 
and  their  cooking  utensils  were  a  few  stones. 
They  had  an  idea  that  there  was  a  great  Being 
somewhere  who  sent  the  thunder,  but  they  were 
much  afraid  of  him  and  had  no  form  of  wor- 
ship. They  had  some  notion  of  a  future  life,  but 
they  thought  that  it  would  be  much  like  this 
one ;  and  on  the  death  of  a  chief  his  slaves  were 
killed,  that  they  might  go  with  him  and  wait 
upon  him.  Altogether  it  did  not  seem  an  invi- 
ting spot  for  missionaries  to  settle  in,  but  the 
need  was  great  and  some  men  were  raised  up  to 
throw  their  lives  into  this  great  field. 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.  73 

The  first  missionary  to  the  country  was  Sam- 
uel Marsden,  a  British  chaplain  in  New  South 
Wales.  In  1814  he  began  a  mission  on  the  east- 
ern coast  of  the  northern  island.  The  islanders 
were  known  to  be  so  savage  that  no  ship  cap- 
tain would  take  him  to  the  shore,  so  he  had  to 
buy  a  brig  at  his  own  expense  and  landed  with 
a  single  companion. 

Just  about  this  time  there  was  a  young  man 
in  England,  named  Nathaniel  Turner,  who  was 
a  member  of  the  Wesley  an  Methodist  Church. 
He  thought  that  he  heard  a  voice,  deep  down  in 
his  heart,  saying  to  him,  "Go  carry  the  glad 
tidings  to  the  heathen  !  Go  carry  the  glad 
tidings  to  the  heathen  !"  He  listened  to  the 
command,  and  offered  himself  to  the  church  as 
a  missionary,  but  the  church  was  in  debt,  and 
there  was  no  money  with  which  to  send  the 
young  soldier  out  to  fight  for  his  Master.  He 
must  wait,  he  was  told,  until  the  necessary  sum 
could  be  raised. 

But  there  was  another  side  to  the  story. 
Soon  afterwards  a  Mr.  Leigh,  who  had  been  a 
missionary  in  New  South  Wales,  and  who  had 
gone  to  New  Zealand  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  came  home  to  England  for  a  little  rest 
and  change.  His  heart  was  full  of  the  sad  con- 
dition of  the  people  of  New  Zealand  and  he 
could  not  keep  from  talking  about  it  wherever  he 


74  HEROES    OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

went.  He  begged  the  society  to  let  him  have 
a  missionary  for  New  Zealand ;  and  when  he 
heard  that  there  was  a  young  man  only  waiting 
for  a  fund  to  be  raised  for  his  support  before 
setting  out  to  a  foreign  land  he  made  up  his 
mind  that  the  lacking  means  should  be  supplied. 
After  asking  permission  he  started  out  to  collect 
articles  of  manufacture  that  would  be  as  useful 
as  money  to  the  missionaries,  as  they  could  barter 
them  among  the  natives  for  food,  land  and  build- 
ing material,  and  he  succeeded  in  gathering  a 
large  number  of  axes,  razors,  fish-hooks,  pots, 
kettles,  prints,  and  calicoes.  When  he  thought 
that  he  had  enough  of  this  kind  of  currency  he 
sent  off  a  message  to  Nathaniel  Turner,  "  Pre- 
pare to  go  to  New  Zealand  at  once." 

This  was  short  notice,  but  Mr.  Turner  was 
quite  ready  for  marching  orders  at  any  moment. 
There  was  a  brave  girl  in  England  who  had 
promised  to  go  with  him  wherever  he  should 
be  sent,  and  now  she  must  be  married  to  him  in 
haste  and  fly  away  with  him  on  the  long  wed- 
ding journey  across  the  seas.  On  the  third  of 
August,  1823,  in  the  year  that  John  Williams 
found  Rarotonga,  Nathaniel  Turner  and  his 
little  bride  landed  at  the  Bay  of  Islands,  from 
which  place  they  were  taken  forty  miles  inland 
to  the  spot  that  had  been  chosen  by  Mr.  Leigh 
for  the  mission  station. 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.    /$ 

Mr.  Leigh  was  there  before  them,  but  they 
found  him  ill  from  the  effects  of  the  climate. 
The  mission  house,  which  was  not  yet  completed, 
stood  in  a  lovely  quiet  valley,  surrounded  by 
mountains  and  with  a  river  rippling  through 
it  down  to  the  sea,  but  the  rainy  season  had  be- 
gun and  the  roof  of  the  new  building  was  not 
water-proof.  Mr.  Leigh  had  been  sleeping  in 
an  empty  cask,  in  order  to  keep  himself  dry. 

Soon  he  had  to  go  away  and  leave  the  two 
young  people  to  look  after  themselves.  But 
they  did  not  lose  heart.  They  had  three  assist- 
ant workers,  and  finding  a  better  building  site 
they  set  up  a  frame  cottage  that  they  had 
brought  from  Sydney. 

The  chief  of  the  region,  whose  civilized 
name  was  George,  pretended  at  first  to  have  most 
kindly  intentions  towards  the  strangers  who 
had  come  to  live  with  him,  but  no  sooner  was 
the  little  home  ready  for  use  than  up  stepped 
the  big  chief  and  said  coolly,  "  This  house  is 
mine  ;  I  will  knock  it  down.  You  shall  go  away." 
The  natives  with  him  made  a  dash  at  the  work- 
men and  seized  their  spades,  and  then  began  a 
horrible  howling,  which  they  kept  up  both 
night  and  day  for  a  long  time.  This  kind  of 
serenade  did  not  make  the  new  abode  very 
cheerful,  but  fortunately  the  throats  of  the 
savages  could  not  stand  this  exercise  forever, 


76  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

and  fresh  ways  of  tormenting  the  teachers  had 
to  be  invented. 

The  chief  wished  to  be  paid  several  times 
over  for  every  article  that  he  exchanged  with 
the  missionaries,  and  when  he  could  not  have 
his  own  will  in  the  matter  he  threatened  to 
shoot  Mr.  Turner.  "  You  want  to  make  us 
slaves,"  he  said  angrily.  "  We  want  muskets, 
powder,  and  tomahawks.  You  give  us  nothing 
but  prayers.  We  don't  want  to  hear  about 
Jesus  Christ.  If  you  love  us,  as  you  say  you 
do,  give  us  blankets." 

He  also  said  that  he  meant  to  kill  Mrs.  Tur- 
ner and  her  maid,  but  after  a  while  his  rage 
died  out,  and  he  seemed  sorry  for  his  bursts  of 
passion. 

"  When  my  heart  rests  here,"  he  said,  laying 
his  hand  upon  his  breast,  "  then  I  love  Mr. 
Turner  very  much ;  but  when  my  heart  rises 
to  my  throat,  then  I  could  kill  him  in  a  mo- 
ment." 

One  cannot  altogether  blame  those  poor  na- 
tives for  their  enmity  to  the  white  people.  They 
had  been  so  often  ill-treated  and  deceived  by  the 
traders  that  it  is  not  strange  that  they  were  a 
little  suspicious  and  bitter  in  their  feelings  to- 
wards every  pale-face.  The  missionaries  realized 
that  they  were  dealing  with  ignorant,  quick- 
tempered savages,  and  kept  tight  hold  of  their 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.     77 

patience,  faith  and  love,  in  spite  of  many  sad 
discouragements.  They  studied  the  languages, 
taught  the  children,  and  within  a  year  built 
two  chapels  with  their  own  hands.  The  natives 
continued  to  steal  their  goods,  and  still  tried  to 
take  their  lives,  but  after  all  they  did  learn  to 
respect  these  friends,  so  brave  and  kind  and  for^ 
bearing.  "  We  have  tried  all  we  could  to  make 
them  afraid,"  the  men  owned  to  a  visitor  from 
another  island,  "  but  we  can't  do  it.  They  are 
a  courageous  tribe." 

Feeling  the  power  of  their  devotion  and 
heroism,  the  people  began  to  come  to  church 
in  large  numbers,  and  listened  quietly  to  what 
was  said.  They  also  sent  their  children  to 
school.  But  this  happy  state  of  things  did  not 
last  long.  A  whaling  boat  was  captured  by  the 
islanders,  and  most  of  the  crew  murdered.  This 
deed  seemed  to  rouse  all  the  old  wicked,  angry 
feelings  of  the  natives.  Thsy  were  afraid,  too, 
that  England  would  send  somebody  down  to 
punish  them  for  their  evil  deed,  and  there  was 
prospect  of  war  with  another  island,  just  then, 
besides.  In  their  fear  and  rage  and  excitement 
they  fell  upon  the  persons  nearest  at  hand,  and 
the  missionaries  saw  that  there  was  no  hope  of 
doing  anything  with  them  in  their  present  state 
of  mind,  and  thought  that  perhaps  they  would 
better  withdraw  from  the  scene  for  a  while. 


78  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

But  they  had  to  leave  much  more  suddenly 
than  they  had  expected.  One  night  in  January, 
in  the  year  1827,  the  station  was  attacked,  and 
the  men  and  women  had  to  flee  for  their  lives. 
Mrs.  Turner  had  a  narrow  escape  from  death, 
for  one  of  the  savages  had  raised  his  spear  to 
strike  her  down  when  a  friendly  native  pushed 
up  a  shelf  over  the  doorway  and  caused  a 
large  number  of  nails  that  were  lying  there  to 
come  tumbling  and  rattling  down  upon  the 
head  of  the  pursuer,  which  frightened  him  so 
much  that  he  dropped  his  arm  and  gave  up  the 
chase. 

Over  the  fields  they  went,  the  homeless  little 
band  !  There  were  three  missionaries  and  three 
children,  one  of  the  latter  a  baby  only  four 
weeks  old.  Four  times  they  had  to  wade  the 
winding  river,  and  twice  they  were  met  by  war 
parties,  but  they  passed  on  uninjured.  After  a 
long  walk  of  twenty  miles  they  reached  the  sta- 
tion of  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 

They  had  but  one  convert  to  show  for  all 
their  work,  but  Mrs.  Turner  gave  no  signs  of 
wishing  to  desert  the  cause  yet.  "  Can't  we  stay 
and  carry  on  our  mission  somewhere  else  ?"  she 
said.  But  this  plan  seemed  out  of  the  question 
for  the  present,  so,  after  spending  six  months  in 
Sydney,  in  Australia,  the  outcasts  from  one  field 
resolved  to  take  up  work  in  another.  In  com- 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.  79 

pany  with  some  other  missionaries  they  went  to 
the  help  of  the  Tonga  mission,  in  the  Friendly 
Islands. 

The  Friendly  Islands  also  had  been  discov- 
ered by  Capt.  Cook,  but  he  had  made  a  slight 
mistake  in  giving  this  group  its  name.  Closer 
acquaintance  had  made  clear  the  fact  that  the 
English  language  could  hardly  have  furnished 
a  more  unsuitable  adjective  with  which  to  de- 
scribe the  inhabitants.  The  first  missionaries, 
who  had  gone  to  the  islands  in  1796,  had  had  to 
leave  the  place  on  account  of  most  unfriendly 
treatment,  and  the  second  set  were  about  to 
follow  their  example  when  the  new  force  of 
workers  lent  them  an  extra  spark  of  courage 
and  hope,  and  made  them  willing  to  wait  a 
while  longer  and  try  again. 

The  houses  of  Tonga  were  thatched  with 
reeds  of  sugar-cane,  and  the  walls  were  of  plaited 
cocoa-palm  leaves.  They  had  no  stone  founda- 
tions to  raise  them  above  the  damp  earth,  and  in 
many  of  the  poorer  huts  the  floors  were  merely 
strewn  with  dried  grass. 

There  was  usually  an  inner  room  screened  off 
for  a  sleeping  room.  The  pillow  was  a  bit  of 
bamboo  supported  by  two  legs.  The  people  are 
strong  and  robust,  and  have  bright  complexions. 
They  are  more  intelligent  than  many  of  their 
neighbors,  and  have  a  good  deal  of  influence 


80  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

over  surrounding  islands.  They  seemed  to  have 
more  noble  traits  than  many  of  the  South  Sea 
Islanders,  although  they  were  very  ignorant, 
and  had  no  religious  knowledge.  They  had 
never  heard  of  fire,  and  ate  everything  raw,  and 
they  had  no  idea  that  water  could  be  made  to 
boil.  They  were  almost  ready  to  worship  as 
a  god  anybody  who  could  bring  to  pass  anything 
so  wonderful ;  and  one  man  who  thrust  his  hand 
into  a  kettle  of  hot  water  drew  it  quickly  out 
again,  saying  ruefully,  "The  water  has  bitten 
my  hand." 

In  1826  a  good  missionary  named  John 
Thomas  had  gone  to  Tonga,  and  now  he  and  his 
company  and  the  new  band  worked  on  together. 
There  were  still  many  hardships  and  trials  to 
endure  before  there  was  much  encouragement 
Then  there  was  a  little  breath  of  life,  like  a  faint 
ripple  of  wind  that  steals  over  the  water  and  whis- 
pers hope  to  a  becalmed  vessel.  King  George  of 
Haabai,  an  island  in  the  Friendly  group,  came 
across  to  Tonga  for  a  visit.  He  was  a  fierce, 
warlike  savage,  devoted  to  his  idols  and  his 
strange,  heathen  superstitions  ;  but  he  was  deep- 
ly interested  and  really  impressed  by  what  he 
heard  from  the  teachers  in  Tonga,  and  when  he 
went  home  he  took  down  his  idols  from  their 
position  of  honor,  and,  to  the  horror  and  alarm 
of  his  people,  hung  them  in  a  row  from  his  ceil- 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.  8 1 

ing,  leaving  them  dangling  there,  to  show  how 
helpless  and  worthless  they  were. 

Next  he  bui.  t  a  church  and  asked  that  a  mis- 
sionary might  be  sent  over  to  preach  in  it,  but  as 
there  was  then  no  missionary  to  spare  he  per- 
suaded an  English  sailor  who  was  living  in 
Haabai  to  read  the  church  service  to  the  con- 
gregation every  Sunday. 

A  remarkable  story  is  told  in  connection  with 
the  settling  of  a  missionary  in  this  island.  Over 
in  Tonga,  John  Thomas  was  wondering  if  it 
would  be  advisable  to  go  to  the  e'.cra  expense 
of  establishing  a  mission  on  Haabai ;  and  while 
he  was  praying  and  thinking  over  the  question 
there  was  washed  ashore  one  day  an  old  cask  in 
which  was  found  a  letter  containing  instructions 
about  this  very  matter,  and  promising  support  in 
carrying  out  the  plan  that  the  missionaries  had 
in  mind.  The  ship  bearing  the  letter  had  been 
wrecked,  and  the  captain  had  set  the  message 
adrift,  trusting  that  it  might  reach  its  destina- 
tion. In  1830,  therefore,  John  Thomas  went  to 
Haabai  and  there  he  preached  to  the  natives,  and 
after  a  few  months  several  of  them  were  bap- 
tized. 

King  George  then  paid  a  visit  to  Vauvau, 
where  lived  the  surly  chief  Finau,  who  had 
not  shown  himself  very  cordial  in  his  reception 
of  John  Williams'  proposition  to  send  him  teach- 

Heroes  of  the  South  Seas,  6 


82  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

ers.  But  King  George  made  him  listen  to  what 
he  had  to  tell  and  tried  to  coax  him  into  giving 
up  his  idols.  After  a  while  Finau  consented  to 
find  out  by  an  experiment  the  truth  of  what  was 
said.  He  built  a  huge  bonfire  and  then  brought 
out  his  gods  and  placed  them  before  it.  "  Now," 
said  he,  "  if  you  are  good  for  anything  you  can 
save  yourselves  by  running  away."  Then  he 
took  the  idols,  one  by  one,  into  his  hands,  and 
holding  them  over  the  fire  said  to  each  in  turn, 
"  Run,  or  be  burned  !  Run,  or  be  burned  !"  As 
not  a  single  image  made  a  motion  to  leave  the 
spot,  he  flung  them  all  into  the  flames,  with  a 
scornful  laugh,  and  believed  in  them  no  longer. 

Vauvau  is  a  dreary,  lonely  sort  of  a  place.  The 
people  are  shut  in  by  tall  crags ;  there  is  little 
growth  of  any  kind  on  the  island,  and  the  only 
sound  that  can  be  heard  is  the  moaning  of  the 
sea  as  it  rushes  in  under  the  rocks.  But  hearing 
of  the  interest  in  this  place  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Turner 
decided  to  go  down  to  see  if  they  could  do  any- 
thing to  help  at  this  time.  One  of  the  first 
things  that  they  did  was  to  begin  to  pray  ear- 
nestly for  all  the  people  of  the  Friendly  Islands, 
and  the  good  Father  above  listened  to  the  peti- 
tions of  his  servants  on  the  desolate  little  island 
and  sent  them  a  rich  blessing. 

In  1834  a  wonderful  revival  began  in  Vauvau. 
King  George  heard  of  the  great  awakening  that 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.   83 

had  come  to  his  neighbors  and  went  over  to  see 
what  was  taking  place,  and  there  he  was  con- 
verted and  took  the  first  steps  in  a  Christian  life 
that  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  earnest  that 
has  ever  been  lived.  He  became  a  local  preach- 
er, and  was  very  helpful  in  carrying  the  gospel  to 
others.  The  good  work  spread  from  Vauvau  to 
Haabai  and  Tonga  and  through  all  the  islands 
of  the  group.  In  Vauvau  for  a  week  or  two  the 
schools  had  to  be  closed  and  prayer-meetings 
were  held  five  or  six  times  a  day.  About  one 
thousand  persons  were  converted  in  a  day.  In 
the  other  islands  there  were  at  least  two  thou- 
sand conversions  in  the  course  of  two  weeks. 

King  George  built  a  large  chapel  in  Haabai 
for  the  use  of  the  missionaries.  It  was  big 
enough  to  hold  all  the  people  of  the  island. 
Every  one  of  the  natives  wished  to  do  some- 
thing to  help  in  the  building,  and  the  work  was 
regularly  divided  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
group.  As  they  had  no  nails  the  timbers  had  to 
be  fastened  with  cords  made  from  the  fibres 
of  the  cocoanut  husks,  dyed  black,  red,  and  other 
colors,  and  beautifully  woven  together  in  artistic 
patterns.  The  king  gave  to  his  new  sanctuary 
several  finely-carved  spears,  that  had  been  left  to 
him  by  his  ancestors  and  had  often  been  used 
in  war.  They  were  made  into  rails  for  the  com- 
munion table  ;  and  two  handsome  clubs,  which 


84  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

had  been  worshipped  as  gods,  were  placed  at  the 
bottom  of  the  pulpit  stairs. 

So  it  was  that  when  John  Williams  stopped  at 
Vauvau,  on  his  way  home  from  Samoa,  he  found 
that  the  whole  island  had  become  Christian,  as 
was  said  before. 

Next  a  printing-press  was  set  up  in  Tonga, 
and  the  people  became  much  interested  in  the 
books  that  were  printed.  A  great  many  persons 
began  to  come  to  the  schools  and  converts  began 
to  start  out  to  preach  the  gospel  to  other  islands. 

When  Finau  died  King  George  became  ruler 
of  all  the  islands,  and  a  good  ruler  he  was  in- 
deed. He  was  six  feet  four  inches  in  height, 
well-formed  and  athletic,  and  had  a  most  intel- 
ligent, trustworthy  face,  with  the  bearing  and 
manners  of  a  true  gentleman.  He  was  an  un- 
mistakable Christian  king.  His  kingdom  had, 
in  course  of  time,  a  constitution,  with  all  the  laws 
and  regulations  needed  in  a  civilized  nation. 
The  people  of  the  Friendly  Islands  are  now 
amiable  and  courteous,  and  the  women  are  kind- 
ly treated.  Their  homes  are  pleasant  and  their 
grounds  are  laid  out  with  taste  and  care.  For 
some  years  they  have  supplied  fine  native  teach- 
ers and  preachers  and  have  sent  out  many  mis- 
sionaries, giving  large  sums  to  the  Wesleyan  Mis- 
sionary Society — even  so  much  as  $15,000  in  a 
year. 


NEW  ZEALAND  AND  THE  FRIENDLY  ISLANDS.   85 

There  are  now  about  thirty  thousand  church- 
members  in  these  islands.  When  a  collection  is 
taken  in  any  of  the  churches  it  is  said  that  there 
is  never  a  penny,  nor  copper  in  any  form,  put 
into  the  plate.  Nothing  but  gold  or  silver  is 
offered  to  the  Lord's  work.  On  one  occasion 
King  George  and  his  wife  dropped  in  ten  sov- 
ereigns, a  gift  to  them  from  the  captain  of  an 
English  war-ship. 

Several  years  ago  the  commander  of  one  of 
these  English  war-ships,  who  had  been  cruising 
about  in  the  Southern  Pacific,  stopped  at  the 
Friendly  Islands.  When  King  George  came  out 
to  meet  him  in  his  royal  canoe,  and  wearing  the 
dress  of  a  British  officer,  the  commander  ex- 
claimed ;  "  He  is  every  inch  a  king.  Give  him 
twenty-one  guns  !" — a  royal  salute. 

About  twenty  men  from  Tonga  were  recently 
beaten  and  driven  away  from  their  homes  by  the 
remnants  of  the  heathen  party  in  the  island. 
The  governor  of  Fiji  became  interested  in  them 
and  obtained  liberty  for  them  to  return.  As 
they  sailed  away  from  Fiji,  singing,  "  Home, 
Sweet  Home,"  the  governor  turned  to  a  friend 
standing  near  by  and  said,  "  That  is  as  fine  a 
group  of  Christian  gentlemen  as  I  ever  saw." 

And  so  at  last  the  Friendly  Islands  have 
begun  to  live  up  to  their  name. 


86  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

NEW     ZEALAND   AND    THE    MELANESIAN   MISSION. 
TWO   COLLEGE   ATHLETES. 

BEFORE  all  these  great  things  were  accom- 
plished Mr.  Turner  went  back  to  New  Zealand. 
Other  missionaries  had  been  there  in  the  mean- 
time, and  a  change  had  come  over  the  people. 
But  all  the  difficulties  had  not  yet  been  removed, 
and  there  were  still  many  foes  to  face  and  many 
battles  to  be  won.  The  old  warlike  spirit  would 
break  out  once  in  a  while  even  among  those  who 
had  been  studying  the  gospel  of  peace,  but  Mr. 
Turner  came  in  with  new  help  and  inspiration, 
and  the  churches  grew,  and  the  converts  became 
more  earnest.  Mr.  Turner  worked  in  New  Zea- 
land until  his  health  failed  and  he  had  to  give 
up  his  position.  The  rest  of  his  life  he  spent  in 
Sydney,  in  Australia,  and  he  died  in  1864. 

In  1841  George  Augustus  Selwyn,  of  the 
English  church,  was  made  a  missionary  bishop 
and  sent  to  New  Zealand  to  look  after  the  min- 
isters and  teachers  already  there  under  the  care 
of  the  Church  Missionary  Society.  He  was  a 
young  man,  about  thirty-three  years  old,  strong, 
bright,  and  athletic,  and  with  a  highly  cultivated 


THE   MELANESIAN   MISSION.  8/ 

mind.  He  had  been  a  famous  oarsman  at  Cam- 
bridge, and  he  could  manage  a  schooner  at  sea 
like  an  old  sailor.  Now  he  threw  all  his  unusual 
gifts  and  graces  and  accomplishments  into  the 
work  before  him.  He  went  over  all  the  island 
on  foot,  and  became  acquainted  with  almost 
every  nook  and  corner  of  it.  In  1849  he  ob- 
tained a  small  schooner,  which  went  by  the 
name  of  Undine,  and  started  off  on  a  tour  of  in- 
spection. 

He  sailed  one  thousand  miles,  to  Aneityum, 
in  the  New  Hebrides,  where  John  Geddie  had 
just  gone  to  work  among  his  special  group  of 
cannibals,  and  taking  Mr.  Geddie  with  him  he 
visited  all  the  islands  in  the  New  Hebrides  and 
Loyalty  groups,  and  in  the  cluster  called  New 
Caledonia.  Selwyn  had  marvellous  art  in  win- 
ning the  confidence  of  the  savages.  He  would 
go  among  them  altogether  unarmed,  only  keep- 
ing his  eye  on  them  to  make  sure  that  they 
meant  no  mischief.  Everywhere  he  went  he 
would  pick  up  a  few  words  from  the  natives,  and 
jot  them  down  in  his  note-book,  with  the  names 
of  chiefs  and  of  places,  and  then  when  he  came 
again  he  would  surprise  and  delight  his  new 
friends  by  using  their  language,  and  by  seeming 
to  know  all  about  them.  Each  year  he  ventured 
a  little  farther  on  his  voyages,  until  at  last  he 
had  called  at  most  of  the  islands  between  New 


88  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

Zealand  and  the  Solomon  group.  He  was  equal 
to  almost  everything  that  came  in  his  way,  from 
drawing  charts  and  pulling  ropes  to  making 
frocks  for  the  women  and  taking  care  of  poor 
sick  little  babies. 

In  1850  an  Australasian  Board  of  Missions 
was  established  and  New  Zealand,  fell  under  the 
care  of  this  Board.  In  1851  the  Bishop  of  New- 
castle in  New  South  Wales,  who  had  been  an 
old  comrade  of  Selwyn's  on  the  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity boat  crew,  went  off  with  Selwyn  on  a 
voyage. 

Bishop  Selwyn  was  anxious  to  take  a  few 
boys  to  Auckland,  teach  them  something  about 
Christianity,  and  then  send  them  home  to  tell  to 
their  friends  what  they  had  learned. 

He  was  able  to  buy  a  larger  boat,  and  in  1852 
he  carried  a  missionary  and  his  wife  to  Aneit- 
yum  free  of  expense.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  what  is  called  the  Melanesian  Mission — Me- 
lanesian  meaning  the  "  Black  Islands." 

In  1852  also  Bishop  Selwyn  returned  to 
England  to  tell  about  the  work  in  Melanesia 
and  to  interest  others  in  those  distant  lands. 
He  made  a  deep  impression,  with  his  stirring 
sermons,  and  among  other  hearts  that  were 
especially  roused  was  that  of  young  John  Cole- 
ridge Patteson. 

"  Coley"  Patteson,  as  he  was  called,  had  be- 


THE   MELANESIAN   MISSION  89 

gun  life  with  many  advantages.  He  had  a 
strong,  true  man  for  a  father,  and  a  gentle,  wise 
and  lovely  woman  for  a  mother,  and  his  home 
was  of  just  the  kind  to  make  a  brave,  manly, 
honest  boy,  both  high-spirited  and  affectionate, 
winning  and  commanding.  He  was  very  fond 
of  reading,  and  after  his  fifth  birthday,  when  he 
received  a  present  of  a  Bible,  he  became  a  great 
student  of  that  book. 

There  were  some  questions  that  his  bright 
little  brain  had  to  struggle  over ;  one  was, 
"What  became  of  the  fishes  during  the  flood?" 
and  one  day  when  his  companions  in  the  nursery 
called  him  impatiently  to  come  and  join  in  their 
play  he  said,  absently,  "  Please  wait  a  few  min- 
utes, while  I  finish  the  binding  of  Satan  for  a 
thousand  years."  This  same  little  Bible  that  he 
loved  so  dearly  when  he  was  a  boy  was  used, 
twenty-seven  years  later,  when  Coleridge  Patte- 
son  was  consecrated  to  the  office  of  a  bishop. 

Early  in  life  he  began  to  plan  for  the  future. 
At  one  time  he  heard  the  story  of  a  missionary 
bishop  who  had  in  his  field  of  labor  undergone 
the  experience  of  a  terrible  hurricane.  "  When  I 
grow  up,"  said  small  John  to  his  mother,  "  I 
am  going  to  be  a  bishop  and  have  a  hurricane 
too." 

In  course  of  time  he  went  to  school,  after  the 
fashion  of  most  boys,  and  in  the  old  Foundation 


90  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

School  at  Ottery  St.  Mary,  he  studied  his  les- 
sons, wrote  home-sick  letters  to  his  mother,  and 
enjoyed  himself,  in  spite  of  an  occasional  long- 
ing look  in  another  direction.  He  loved  football 
and  cricket,  and  would  settle  down  to  his  books 
in  good  earnest  so  that  he  might  push  them  out 
of  the  way  and  be  free  for  out-of-door  sports. 
He  was  only  eight  years  old  when  first  sent  to 
this  school,  but  he  stood  up  for  himself  among 
the  elder  boys  and  took  care  of  his  younger 
brother  as  well. 

Once  he  broke  his  collar-bone,  but  nobody 
knew  anything  about  it  until  three  weeks  after- 
wards, when  he  went  home  and  his  mother  saw 
that  something  hurt  him  when  she  gave  him 
a  motherly  hug  in  greeting.  When  she  told 
him  that  he  had  done  wrong  not  to  make  known 
his  accident,  he  said  simply,  "  Oh,  well,  I  did  n't 
want  to  make  a  fuss." 

When  he  went  to  Eton  he  was  the  same  sort 
of  a  boy.  He  was  always  a  leader,  always  full 
of  life,  energy  and  fun,  but  always  staunch, 
straightforward  and  noble. 

One  Sunday  afternoon  he  heard  Bishop  Sel- 
wyn  speak  in  the  parish  church  of  New  Wind- 
sor. Young  Patteson  stood  in  the  aisle,  as  there 
was  no  seat  for  him,  and  in  his  white  collar  and 
short  jacket,  with  his  fair  hair  and  earnest  blue 
eyes,  he  looked  like  a  little  knight  hearing  the 


THE   MELANESIAN    MISSION.  9! 

bugle-call  to  battle  as  he  listened,  wholly  ab- 
sorbed, to  the  ringing  words  of  the  bishop. 

The  text  was,  "  Thy  heart  shall  be  enlarged 
because  the  abundance  of  the  sea  shall  be  con- 
verted unto  thee,  the  forces  also  of  the  Gentiles 
shall  come  unto  thee." 

After  the  meeting  Coleridge  ran  home  and 
sat  down  and  scribbled  a  letter  to  his  mother 
to  tell  her  all  about  it. 

"  It  was  beautiful,"  he  wrote.  "  When  he 
talked  of  his  going  out  to  found  a  church,  and 
then  to  die  neglected  and  forgotten,  all  the 
people  burst  out  crying,  he  was  so  very  much 
beloved  by  his  parishioners.  He  spoke  of  his 
perils,  and  putting  his  trust  in  God,  and  then, 
when  he  had  finished,  I  think  I  never  heard 
anything  like  the  sensation — a  kind  of  feeling 
that,  if  it  had  not  been  on  so  sacred  a  spot,  all 
would  have  exclaimed,  '  God  bless  him  !'  " 

Before  Bishop  Selwyn  left  England  he  called 
upon  the  Pattesons  to  say  good-by.  As  he  was 
about  to  depart  he  said  gently,  "  Lady  Patteson, 
will  you  give  me  Coley  ?"  This  was  a  hard  ques- 
tion, but  the  answer  of  the  mother  was  given 
to  her  boy  when  he  came  to  her  with  the  same 
thought,  and  she  promised  him  that  if  he  kept 
the  desire  as  he  grew  older  she  would  let  him 
join  the  bishop  in  his  work. 

But  it  was  Coleridge  who  had  to  give  up  his 


92  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

mother  before  the  time  came  when  she  could 
give  up  her  son.  His  first  great  trial  was  the 
death  of  this  mother  whom  he  loved  so  well.  He 
was  almost  broken-hearted  over  his  loss,  but  he 
went  back  to  school  all  the  purer  and  better  for 
this  shadow  over  his  life.  He  was  as  athletic 
and  as  popular  as  ever,  and  in  one  of  the  an- 
nual cricket  contests  with  Harrow  he  broke  the 
powerful  bowling  of  the  other  side  and  by  put- 
ting on  fifty  runs  to  the  score  won  the  match, 
to  his  own  glory  and  the  joy  of  his  fellow  stu- 
dents. 

His  popularity  and  sociability  brought  pe- 
culiar temptations  to  him,  but  he  saw  things 
with  clearer  eyes  than  most  of  his  companions 
and  he  came  through  unhurt.  On  an  occasion 
of  a  dinner  of  the  Eton  eleven  certain  objection- 
able songs  were  started.  Coleridge,  who  was 
chairman  at  the  time,  tried  to  hush  them  up, 
but  one  boy  persisted  in  going  on  with  his  oc- 
cupation. Coleridge  at  once  arose  and  said 
calmly,  "  If  this  does  n't  stop  I  shall  leave  the 
room."  And  leave  the  room  he  did,  and  the  next 
day  sent  in  his  resignation  as  captain  ;  nor  would 
he  take  up  the  position  again  until  his  school- 
fellows came  and  apologized  to  him,  and  prom- 
ised that  nothing  of  the  sort  should  happen 
again  as  long  as  the  present  eleven  stayed  in 
the  school. 


THE  MELANESIAN   MISSION.  93 

From  Eton  he  stepped  into  University  life 
at  Oxford,  where  he  became  a  great  student. 
He  chose  the  ministry  for  his  occupation,  and 
in  course  of  time  was  happily  settled  in  England, 
at  Alfington,  in  Devonshire ;  but  in  the  year  1854 
came  his  second  call  to  work  for  God  in  foreign 
lands.  When  Bishop  Selwyn  again  returned  to 
England  all  the  old  admiration  and  enthusiasm 
once  awakened  by  his  presence  flamed  up  again 
in  Coleridge  Patteson's  heart.  In  a  conversation 
with  the  bishop  he  showed  that  his  early  pur- 
pose was  still  in  his  mind,  but  the  thought  of 
his  father  kept  him  in  England.  The  bishop 
pointed  out  to  him  that  if  he  meant  to  devote 
his  life  to  missionary  labor  he  should  begin 
while  he  was  strong  and  vigorous,  and  the  re- 
sult was  that  the  father  was  asked  if  he  could 
let  his  son  go  to  New  Zealand,  "  Oh  I  can't  let 
him  go,"  cried  the  old  judge  at  first,  but  im- 
mediately added,  with  that  generosity  and  cour- 
age that  his  son  had  inherited  from  him,  "  God 
forbid  that  I  should  stop  him  !' 

So,  difficult  as  was  the  task,  Coleridge  Patte- 
son  turned  his  back  upon  his  family  and  home, 
and  the  brilliant  prospects  opening  before  him, 
and  trying  to  forget  himself,  and  to  think  only 
of  his  work,  he  followed  the  good  bishop  over 
the  sea. 

On  the  voyage  the  young  missionary  studied 


94  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

the  language  of  New  Zealand  and  learned  a 
good  deal  about  navigation.  When  he  reached 
Auckland  he  set  to  work  to  master  his  new 
duties.  He  was  placed  in  the  college,  where 
among  other  things  he  had  to  make  his  own 
bed,  keep  his  room  in  order,  and  clear  away 
things  after  meals.  He  was  very  quick  in  ac- 
quiring the  language,  and  the  natives  used 
to  say  to  him,  "  We  want  you.  You  speak  so 
plainly  we  can  understand  you."  They  were 
pleased,  too,  with  his  readiness  to  do  anything 
that  came  in  his  way,  from  writing  a  sermon 
to  cooking  a  dinner.  "  Gentleman-gentleman 
thought  nothing  that  ought  to  be  done  too 
mean  for  him  ;  pig-gentleman  never  work,"  they 
said  approvingly,  in  the  words  of  one  of  their 
proverbs. 

In  the  Southern  Cross  he  went  off  with  the 
bishop  on  his  missionary  cruises  among  the 
islands  of  Melanesia.  They  had  many  narrow 
escapes  in  their  visits  to  the  islanders,  and  saw 
some  strange  sights,  but  Patteson  looked  be- 
low the  surface  and  found  much  that  was  good 
and  attractive  in  these  children  of  the  sea. 
"  They  are  fond  ;  that  is  the  name  for  them," 
he  wrote  home.  "  I  have  had  boys  and  men, 
in  a  few  minutes  after  landing,  follow  me  like 
a  dog,  holding  their  hands  in  mine  as  a  little 
child  does  with  its  nurse."  He  never  called 


THE   MELANESIAN   MISSION.  95 

them  savages,  but  spoke  of  them  as  "  my  Mela- 
nesians." 

There  was  probably  something  in  Patteson 
himself  that  invited  this  confidence.  Often 
when  a  native  had  lifted  his  arm  to  send  an 
arrow  flying  at  the  strangers  stepping  upon  the 
beach,  he  would  look  up,  with  his  warm,  bright 
smile,  and  the  arrow  would  fall  harmlessly  to 
the  ground.  The  boys  that  he  taught  and  knew 
and  loved  he  addressed  by  a  name  that  meant 
"  old  fellow." 

When  he  settled  down  with  his  pupils  at 
St.  John's  College,  in  Auckland,  he  was  to  them 
a  father,  a  friend,  a  playmate,  all  in  one.  He 
taught  them  cricket,  and  printing,  and  weaving, 
besides  those  things  that  they  learned  from 
books,  and  when  they  were  sick  he  gave  up 
his  own  bed  to  them  and  nursed  them  with 
care  and  tenderness.  That  they  were  making 
progress,  too,  in  the  highest  education  was 
proved  by  their  prayers. 

One  boy  of  seventeen  prayed  in  this  way : 
"  O  God,  thou  strengthenest  us.  Thou  lovest 
us.  We  have  come  from  a  distant  land  and 
no  evil  has  happened  to  us,  for  thou  lovest  us. 
Thou  hast  provided  us  with  a  missionary  to 
live  here  with  us.  Give  us  strength  from  thee 
every  day.  We  are  men  who  have  done  evil 
before  thee,  but  thou  watchest  over  us,  and 


96  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

savest  us  from  the  hands  of  Satan.  We  do  not 
wish  to  follow  him,  but  to  be  thy  servants,  O 
Jesus,  and  the  servants  of  thy  great  Father,  and 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  who  giveth  us  life  for  ever- 
more." 


THE  MELANESIAN  MISSION.  97 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE  MELANESIAN  MISSION :  THE  BISHOP  AND 
HIS  BOYS. 

SOME  of  the  boys  who  were  gathered  for 
training  in  the  college  at  Auckland  were  so 
delicate  in  health  that  it  seemed  best  to  start 
a  school  in  some  island  that  would  be  sufficiently 
sheltered  for  a  winter  residence.  Lifu  was  the 
island  chosen,  and  in  this  spot  Patteson  stayed 
for  three  weeks,  teaching  a  class  of  twenty-five 
young  men.  The  only  comment  that  he  made 
upon  his  life  in  this  place  was,  "  Of  course  I 
should  have  been  glad  sometimes  for  a  good 
talk  in  English  with  somebody." 

The  college  was  moved  from  Auckland  to 
another  site,  about  two  miles  away.  Here  he 
had  a  class  of  small  boys;  "the  jolliest  little  fel- 
lows," he  wrote,  "seven  of  them,  and  scarcely 
too  big  to  take  on  my  knee  and  talk  to  about 
God  and  heaven  and  Jesus  Christ." 

About  this  time  Patteson  made  a  cruise  in  an 
open  boat  to  Saddle  Island,  but  met  with  much 
stormy  weather,  and  the  hardships  and  exposure 
of  this  voyage  caused  on  his  return  a  painful 
tumor  in  his  ear.  Sometimes  he  would  walk  up 

Seroea  of  the  South  Seas.  1  •  7 


98  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

and  down  all  night  in  agony ;  but  this  affliction 
he  bore  with  his  usual  fortitude  and  patience. 

In  1 86 1  John  Coleridge  Patteson  was  conse- 
crated missionary  bishop  of  Melanesia.  When 
the  news  reached  England  the  aged  father 
prayed  at  family  prayers  more  earnestly  than 
usual  for  all  missionaries,  adding  in  a  trembling 
voice,  "  especially  for  John  Coleridge  Patteson, 
missionary  bishop." 

Not  long  afterwards  the  good  old  man  was 
called  home  to  the  Father's  house,  and  under 
this  fresh  sorrow  Patteson's  health  for  a  while 
gave  way,  and  he  left  his  work  to  go  off  on  a 
cruise  among  the  islands. 

Then  he  returned  to  his  pupils,  who  clustered 
round  him,  as  somebody  said,  "like  chickens 
round  a  hen."  When  he  came  out  of  his  rooms 
towards  evening,  when  the  boys  were  playing 
on  the  beach,  there  would  be  an  immediate  rush 
at  him.  Some  of  the  youngsters  would  lay  hold 
of  his  hands,  some  would  seize  the  skirts  of  his 
coat,  and  each  one  had  some  special  word  for 
him.  He  would  throw  his  arms  round  the  neck 
of  one  of  the  taller  boys,  and  with  the  rest 
clinging  to  him  in  one  way  or  another  they 
would  stroll  off  together  for  a  walk. 

The  bishop  still  continued  his  voyages, 
preaching  to  the  people  on  the  islands,  collect- 
ing boys  for  the  schools  and  trying  to  do  some- 


THE    MELANESIAN    MISSION.  99 

thing  against  the  stealing  of  the  natives  by  the 
slave-dealers  from  Queensland  and  other  colo- 
nies. The  slave-ships  were  called  by  the  people 
the  "  snatch-snatch  boats,"  or  "  kill-kill  vessels." 
The  traders  used  very  mean  methods  for  the  pur- 
pose of  luring  the  natives  to  their  ships,  often 
telling  them  that  the  bishop  was  on  board  and 
wished  to  see  some  of  them,  and  then  making 
off  with  those  who  were  simple  enough  to  put 
themselves  in  their  power. 

Patteson  said  that  he  found  that  two  of  the 
first  words  learned  by  islanders  were  "  tobacco  " 
and  "missionary."  The  former  word  was  taught 
them  by  the  men  who  carried  on  the  dreadful 
traffic  in  human  beings  and  also  planted  in 
their  minds  seeds  of  distrust  and  hatred  towards 
all  of  the  white  race. 

The  bishop  himself  was  often  in  danger.  At 
one  time  when  landing  upon  an  island  he  saw 
by  the  gestures  of  the  men  that  they  meant  to 
kill  him.  He  asked  permission  to  rest  for  a 
moment  in  a  hut  by  the  wayside,  and  there  he 
fell  upon  his  knees  and  prayed  earnestly  that  if 
his  last  hour  had  come  help  might  still  be  sent 
to  these  poor  people.  When  he  rose  there  was 
a  look  on  his  face  that  so  overawed  the  savages 
that  they  gave  up  their  evil  purpose  and  took 
him  in  safety  back  to  his  boat. 

The  boat  called  the  Southern  Cross,  which 


100  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

Selwyn  and  Patteson  had  brought  with  them 
from  England,  had  been  wrecked  on  some  rocks 
known  as  the  "  Hen  and  Chickens,"  but  a  second 
boat  of  the  name  was  sent  to  Bishop  Patteson 
from  home,  and  became  of  great  service  to  him. 

He  next  paid  a  visit  to  Australia,  where  he 
engaged  so  much  interest  in  his  mission  that  he 
raised  a  large  sum  of  money  for  his  work. 

During  his  following  voyage  he  landed  at 
Santa  Cruz.  All  went  well  until  he  returned  to 
his  boat,  when  the  natives  sent  a  shower  of  ar- 
rows flying  after  him.  The  bishop  was  unhurt, 
but  two  of  his  dear  native  Christian  boys  were 
killed.  The  last  words  of  one  of  them  were, 
"They  never  stop  singing  there,  sir,  do  they?" 
and  so  he  passed  away  to  the  heavenly  home  of 
which  he  was  thinking.  This  was  a  severe  trial 
to  the  bishop  but  did  not  make  him  stop  work. 
He  gained  a  good  deal  of  strength  and  consola- 
tion from  a  book  sent  him  by  his  sister,  the  copy 
of  the  "  Imitation  of  Christ "  that  had  belonged 
to  brave  young  Bishop  Mackenzie,  who  had  laid 
down  his  life  in  Africa.  The  headquarters  of  the 
mission  were  removed  to  Norfolk  Island,  and 
soon  afterwards  Bishop  Selwyn  went  back  to 
England. 

It  was  hard  for  the  two  men  to  part.  There 
were  a  few  choked  words ;  each  tried  to  say, 
"  God  bless  you,"  and  that  was  all :  but  in  a  let- 


THE   MELANESIAN   MISSION.  IOI 

ter  home  Patteson  said  sadly,  "  I  feel  as  though 
my  master  had  been  taken  from  my  head." 

A  great  joy  came  to  him,  however,  when  one 
of  his  native  deacons  was  ordained  as  the  first 
Melanesian  Christian  minister. 

There  were  by  this  time  many  English  col- 
onists settled  in  New  Zealand,  and  sometimes 
the  new-comers  would  help  themselves  unfair- 
ly to  the  lands  of  the  natives,  which  caused 
trouble  and  led  to  wars.  Some  of  the  people  of 
New  Zealand,  as  they  learned  to  hate  the  Brit- 
ish residents,  began  to  dislike  their  religion  as 
well,  and  so  they  invented  one  of  their  own, 
called  Howism ;  those  who  took  it  up  going  by 
the  name  of  How  Hows,  the  title  being  derived 
from  the  sound  of  their  war-cry,  which  resem- 
bles the  barking  of  a  dog.  This  religion  was  a 
mixture  of  truths  from  the  Bible  and  old  super- 
stitions of  their  own,  and  the  movement  was  re- 
ally a  return  to  heathenism.  But  in  all  the 
anger  and  excitement  of  these  people  they  still 
showed  traces  of  nobility  and  a  remembrance 
and  appreciation  of  the  Christian  ideas  that  had 
been  taught  them.  They  would  allow  wagons 
loaded  with  provisions  and  ammunition  to  pass 
them  untouched  on  Sunday,  and  they  took  care 
of  the  wounded  and  allowed  the  dead  to  be  bu- 
ried. In  one  battle  the  commander  wrote  on  the 
orders  of  the  day,  "  If  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed 


102  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

him  ;  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink  ;"  and  then, 
after  the  fight,  he  crept  through  the  English 
lines  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life  to  carry  a  cup 
of  water  to  a  wounded  enemy  who  lay  dying 
within  the  pales. 

About  1872  the  warfare  was  given  up  and 
matters  between  the  natives  and  the  colonists 
have  been  going  on  more  quietly. 

Bishop  Patteson  went  on  with  his  voyages 
until  his  mission  had  spread  as  far  as  the  Solo- 
mon and  Banks  Islands  ;  but  at  last  he  lost  his 
life  in  the  cause  to  which  he  was  devoting  him- 
self, and  by  means  of  the  people  he  was  trying 
to  save. 

The  slave-traders,  wishing  to  entrap  more  of 
the  natives  for  their  wicked  designs,  had  gone 
farther  than  ever  in  their  wiles.  At  one  time 
one  of  them  arrayed  himself  in  a  dress  like  the 
bishop's  and  held  a  mock  service  on  board  the 
ship,  in  order  to  entice  the  people  whom  they 
were  seeking  to  come  out  to  them.  The  plan 
was  successful,  and  a  large  number  of  slaves 
was  captured.  This  deed  roused  the  hatred 
and  suspicion  of  the  deceived  natives,  and 
Bishop  Patteson  was  the  victim  of  their  re- 
venge. He  had  started  on  a  trip  to  the  Santa 
Cruz  group  of  islands,  and  on  September  twenti- 
eth, 1871,  the  Southern  Cross  was  headed  to- 
wards Nukapu.  The  bishop  was  talking  to  the 


THE   MELANESIAN    MISSION.  103 

young  Melanesians  who  were  with  him,  and  his 
closing  words  were  these  :  "  And  I  say  unto  you, 
my  friends,  be  not  afraid  of  them  that  kill  the 
body,  and  after  that  have  no  more  that  they 
can  do." 

They  drew  near  the  island,  and  the  bishop 
went  ashore.  No  sooner  had  he  landed  than 
the  men  in  the  canoes  along  the  coast  drew 
their  bows  and  began  to  fire  upon  their  boat. 
The  crew  became  anxious  about  the  bishop  and 
some  of  them  set  out  to  look  for  him,  but  before 
they  had  gone  far  a  canoe  was  sent  floating  out 
from  the  beach  to  meet  them.  As  it  approached 
they  saw  with  beating  hearts  that  it  held  the 
dead  body  of  a  man.  It  was  that  of  their  be- 
loved bishop.  A  peaceful  smile  was  on  his  face, 
but  it  was  found  that  he  had  been  wounded  in 
five  places.  The  fact  that  each  wound  had  been 
given  to  avenge  some  native  death  was  signified 
by  a  palm-leaf  tied  in  five  knots  and  laid  upon 
his  breast.  As  his  sad-hearted  comrades  looked 
down  at  his  sleeping  form  did  they  not  think 
of  the  words  of  Coleridge  Patteson's  Master, 
"  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this — that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends"  ? 

On  this  little  island  now  stands  an  iron  cross, 
twelve  feet  high,  bearing  this  inscription  : 


104  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

"  In  Memory  of 

JOHN  COLERIDGE  PATTESON,  D.  D., 
Missionary  Bishop, 

Whose  life  was  here  taken  by  men  for  whom  he 
would  gladly  have  given  it." 

Other  memorials  were  erected  in  England ; 
one  is  at  Sperne  Cross,  near  Exeter,  and  one  is 
the  magnificent  pulpit  in  Exeter  Cathedral. 

Bishop  Patteson  left  his  whole  fortune  of 
$65,000  to  the  mission  to  which  he  was  so  de- 
voted, and  Miss  Yonge,  the  popular  writer,  gave 
all  the  profits  of  her  book,  "  The  Daisy  Chain," 
to  the  same  work. 

Bishop  Selwyn's  son  was  next  made  Bishop 
of  New  Zealand,  and  he  began  his  labors  in 
1877.  His  missionary  ship  was  the  Southern 
Cross.  In  1892  he  had  to  resign  his  position  on 
account  of  ill-health,  and  the  boat  was  replaced 
by  a  fine  steamer. 

Native  teachers  now  carry  on  the  missions 
among  the  islands  throughout  the  year.  During 
the  winter  months  European  ministers  live  with 
them  to  instruct  and  assist  them  a  little,  and  to 
open  as  many  new  doors  as  possible  to  the  en- 
trance of  the  gospel.  Parts  of  the  Bible  have  been 
translated  into  the  various  languages.  Many  of 
the  islanders  have  been  taught  to  read,  a  large 
number  have  become  members  of  the  church, 


THE  MELANESIAN   MISSION.  IO5 

and  many  young  men  have  been  trained  to  teach, 
several  of  them  having  become  ministers. 

The  work  on  the  Banks  Islands  has  been 
marked  by  success.  Some  of  the  islands  have 
been  Christianized,  and  they  are  now  under  the 
charge  of  native  pastors.  In  1881  Santa  Cruz 
showed  itself  open  and  friendly  to  the  missiona- 
ries, and  it  now  sends  pupils  to  Norfolk  Island. 

The  gospel  has  a  good  footing,  too,  on  the 
Swallow  Islands,  and  this  mission  has  stations 
on  some  of  the  New  Hebrides  also. 

On  the  Solomon  Islands  the  natives  are  of 
the  Papuan  race,  and  have  been  in  a  low,  savage 
state.  The  people  of  the  northern  islands  have 
been  said  to  be  fiercer  and  more  cruel  than  any 
of  the  tribes  of  the  Pacific. 

The  name  is  supposed  to  have  come  from 
the  fact  that  these  islands  have  been  conjectured 
to  be  the  ones  to  which  Solomon  sent  for  his 
gold,  ivory,  apes  and  peacocks.  The  inhabitants 
build  neat  huts,  make  elaborate  canoes,  and  are 
skilful  in  wood-carving  and  decorative  work  of 
inlaid  shells  and  mother-of-pearl.  A  state  canoe 
that  belonged  to  the  chief  of  one  tribe  was 
gracefully  formed.  Its  stern-post  rose  like  a 
mast,  and  it  was  beautifully  ornamented.  The 
canoe  itself  was  made  of  bent  planks  cement- 
ed together  by  a  kind  of  gum.  This  tribe 
worshipped  a  sacred  image,  or  idol,  which  was 


I06  HEROES    OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

little  more  than  a  thick  post,  with  a  rude  face 
having  inlaid  rings  for  the  eyes,  two  rows  of 
teeth  for  the  mouth,  and  something  on  the  sides 
to  represent  ears.  In  one  island  there  are  nu- 
merous huts  built  among  the  top  branches  of 
high  trees,  to  which  the  people  climb  by  a  sort 
of  rope-ladder,  and  in  which  they  take  refuge 
from  their  enemies,  defending  themselves  by 
pouring  down  a  volley  of  stones  upon  their  pur- 
suers. They  have  spears  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet 
long,  with  a  point  of  sharp  bone,  for  ordinary 
fighting,  and  they  use  bows  and  arrows  besides. 
But  even  in  this  dark  spot,  among  these  head- 
hunters  and  man-eaters,  mission  stations  and 
schools  are  now  established,  and  these  are  large- 
ly owing  to  the  influence  of  one  of  the  boys  of 
the  group,  who  was  educated  at  Norfolk  Island. 
There  are  about  nine  thousand  Melanesian  Chris- 
tians altogether. 

In  New  Zealand  at  the  present  time  there 
are  nearly  two  thousand  churches  and  chapels, 
besides  many  other  buildings  and  houses  in 
which  services  are  held.  The  meetings  are 
attended  by  about  one-third  of  the  population. 

Mr.  Charles  Darwin,  the  scientist,  paid  a  visit 
to  the  island  of  New  Zealand,  and  this  is  what 
he  said  when  he  came  away :  "  The  lesson  of  the 
missionary  is  an  enchanter's  wand.  I  took  leave 
of  the  missionaries  with  thankfulness  for  their 


THE    MELANESIAN    ISLANDS.  IO/ 

•welcome  and  high  respect  for  their  upright  and 
useful  characters." 

A  while  ago  a  Hindu  and  a  New  Zealander 
met  on  board  a  ship.  Each  saw  that  the  other 
was  a  Christian,  because  each  carried  a  Bible, 
but  they  could  exchange  no  ideas  because  they 
could  not  speak  each  other's  language.  Sud- 
denly one  of  them  smiled  and  said,  "  Hallelu- 
jah !"  and  the  other  man  smiled  back  at  him 
and  responded  with  "  Amen !"  and  then  they 
felt  that  they  understood  each  other.  The 
change  in  New  Zealand  has  been  called  "  the 
standing  miracle  of  the  age." 


108  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  FIJI   ISLANDS:  THE   PEOPLE  AND   THE  LOTU. 

WHEN  the  people  of  the  Friendly  Islands 
had  learned  the  glad  story  of  the  Bible,  they 
could  not  rest  content  with  knowing  it  for  them- 
selves, but  felt  that  they  must  pass  it  on  to 
others;  and  where  could  it  be  more  needed  than 
in  the  neighboring  islands  of  Fiji  ? 

There  was  never  a  worse  place  than  Fiji,  so 
far  as  the  people  were  concerned,  although  the 
islands  and  their  surroundings  were  among  the 
most  beautiful  in  the  southern  seas.  There 
are  more  than  two  hundred  of  these  islands, 
eighty  of  which  are  inhabited.  The  rest  are  so 
small  that  many  of  them  cannot  be  seen  except 
at  low  tide.  Most  of  them  are  encircled  by  coral 
reefs,  which  mark  off,  by  a  long  line  of  white 
foam,  the  purple  waves  outside  from  the  blue 
waters  of  the  harbor  within,  and  shine  like  rain- 
bows up  out  of  the  ocean.  Down  through  the 
clear  water  may  be  seen  corals  and  seaweed  of 
almost  every  tint,  and  fishes  of  brilliant  hues 
dart  here  and  there  through  the  gay  picture  of 
color,  which  is  varied  continually  by  the  ebb  and 


THE   FIJI   ISLANDS.  109 

flow  of  the  tide  and  the  shifting  of  light  and 
shadow  from  above. 

The  natives  were  not  altogether  savages  in 
spite  of  their  wickedness  and  cruelty,  for  they 
were  very  clever  about  some  things.  They 
built  very  good  houses,  and  they  had  unusual 
skill  in  the  making  of  native  cloth  and  pottery, 
and  were  adepts  at  the  work  of  carving  and 
basket-weaving.  They  say  that  their  ances- 
tors learned  the  art  of  pottery  from  the  mason 
bee,  and  the  common  cooking  and  water  ves- 
sels do,  indeed,  bear  a  close  resemblance  to 
the  nests  of  these  little  creatures.  The  Fijians 
have  no  potter's  wheel,  but  the  labor  is  all  per- 
formed by  hand.  Their  cloth  and  their  pot- 
tery are  both  decorated,  often  in  artistic  and 
elaborate  patterns  which  are  designed  by  the 
women. 

The  dwellers  in  the  Fiji  Islands  are  dark, 
but  not  black.  It  has  been  said  that  their  shade 
is  more  like  purple  than  like  any  other  color. 
The  dress  of  the  men  used  to  be  made  of  a  long 
piece  of  cloth,  from  three  to  one  hundred  yards 
in  length,  composed  of  pieces  of  tree-bark  glued 
together  and  stained  and  figured  in  gay  devices 
or  in  plain  brown  and  white.  This  cloth  would 
be  wTound  round  the  hips  and  tied  about  the 
upper  part  of  the  body,  the  ends  being  left  to 
trail  behind.  The  women  wore  fastened  round 


110  HEROES   OF   THE    SOUTH    SEAS. 

the  waist  a  band  of  roots  or  of  bark  and  grass 
with  a  deep  fringe  hanging  from  it.  Both  men 
and  \vomen  adorned  themselves  with  shell  am- 
ulets and  finger-rings  and  with  ornamental  bands 
at  their  knees  and  ankles.  They  delighted  in 
necklaces  of  dogs'  and  sharks'  teeth,  and  in  those 
made  of  the  bones  of  bats  and  snakes.  Nearly 
every  man  wore  on  his  breast  a  large  pearl  shell 
and  a  boar's  tusk  or  two.  On  their  foreheads 
many  persons  wore  tufts  of  scarlet  feathers, 
and  in  their  ears  were  thrust  rings  ten  inches 
around,  or  straight  pieces  as  thick  as  their  fin- 
gers or  their  wrists.  Sometimes  they  would  fling 
garlands  of  flowers  or  of  vines  across  their 
shoulders,  as  though  they  had  not  already  made 
themselves  striking  enough  by  tattooing  them- 
selves in  designs  in  blue,  or  by  burning  pat- 
terns down  their  backs  or  upon  their  sides  and 
arms,  or  by  painting  their  faces  in  grotesque 
figures  and  glaring  colors.  Their  hair  they 
dyed  in  almost  every  shade,  red  being  the 
favorite  tint  among  the  young  women.  Then 
these  disguised  locks  they  would  arrange  in  the 
most  unnatural  and  startling  style  possible  ;  the 
chief  aim  seemed  to  be  for  each  to  make  him- 
self or  herself  as  hideous  as  might  be.  Some 
of  these  heads  when  dressed  would  be  three 
feet  around.  Some  looked  as  though  they  were 
bristling  with  stiff  paint-brushes  set  on  end. 


THE   FIJI    ISLANDS.  Ill 

vSome  were  shaved  all  over  except  for  a  patch 
of  hair  on  each  side  or  one  in  front,  and  some 
would  be  shaved  on  top,  while  the  hair  that 
was  left  would  be  brushed  up  into  a  tall  fan  be- 
hind. Sometimes  there  would  be  a  black  mop 
at  the  back  and  a  white  roll  in  front,  and  some- 
times the  whole  head  would  look  as  though  it 
were  covered  with  a  crinkled  worsted  cap. 

Each  chief  had  his  own  hair  -  dresser,  who 
would  spend  hours  each  day  arranging  his  mas- 
ter's hair. 

The  Fijians  were  all  cannibals  of  the  lowest 
type.  The  man  who  had  eaten  the  greatest 
number  of  human  beings  was  thought  the  most 
worthy  of  regard,  and  a  stone  was  set  up  by 
every  one  for  every  victim  that  was  devoured 
by  him.  One  chief  had  a  long  honor-roll  of 
three  hundred  of  these  stones  to  mark  his  own 
cruelty.  There  were  other  customs,  too,  quite 
as  bad  as  cannibalism.  When  a  man  died  his 
widows  were  strangled  and  sent  out  of  the  world 
after  him.  Each  wife  of  a  chief  always  wore  a 
strap  around  her  neck,  so  that  she  might  be 
ready  to  follow  her  husband  at  a  moment's 
notice.  Old  and  sick  persons,  and  little  chil- 
dren, too,  were  often  killed  in  order  that  their 
friends  might  not  be  burdened  with  their  sup- 
port. 

"Why  should  we  let  girls  live?"   asked  one 


112  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

chief.     "  What  are  they  good  for  ?    They  cannot 
swing  a  club  or  throw  a  spear  !" 

When  the  women  were  allowed  to  remain  in 
the  world  they  were  simply  slaves,  and  nobody 
cared  much  for  them.  Neither  had  the  men 
much  consideration  for  the  lives  and  property 
of  one  another.  They  were  always  at  war,  and 
there  was  no  harm  in  stealing,  they  thought,  so 
long  as  they  were  not  caught  in  the  act.  To 
have  the  theft  found  out  was  indeed  a  disgrace, 
and  the  man  who  was  so  stupid  as  to  let  his 
misdeed  be  discovered  was  looked  upon  with 
contempt.  The  natives  had  a  sort  of  belief  in  a 
great  Power  who  had  other  gods  under  him  and 
who  made  known  his  will  to  the  priests ;  and 
they  had  an  idea  that  the  spirits  of  their  ances- 
tors lived  in  the  animals  about  them.  They  be- 
lieved that  every  person  had  two  spirits :  one 
that  left  the  body  at  death,  and  one  that  was 
seen  in  mirrors  or  was  reflected  in  water.  There 
was  a  temple  in  every  village,  but  it  served  many 
other  purposes  besides  those  that  were  religious. 
There  was  no  regular  worship,  and  little  heed 
was  paid  to  the  temple  unless  the  chief  wished 
to  make  some  special  request  of  the  gods,  when 
he  would  repair  the  building  and  bring  an  offer- 
ing of  food,  and  sometimes,  when  he  was  un- 
usually anxious  for  the  granting  of  some  favor, 
even  a  number  of  whales'  teeth.  Whales'  teeth 


THE  FIJI   ISLANDS.  113 

were  the  most  valued  of  all  possessions  in  Fiji. 
One  tooth  would  buy  a  whole  man. 

And  this  was  Fiji,  where  those  men  who  had 
earned  their  right  to  the  name  of  their  islands 
were  about  to  go  to  work.  They  had  not  many 
missionaries  themselves,  those  Friendly  Island- 
ers, but  they  decided  in  the  large-hearted  Chris- 
tian way  that  they  might  spare  two  for  their 
brothers  in  Fiji.  They  chose  two  of  their  very 
best,  William  Cross  and  David  Cargill,  who  had 
come  to  them  from  the  Wesleyan  Church  in 
Great  Britain;  and  in  the  year  1834  the  two 
men  set  sail  for  the  abode  of  those  of  whom 
they  had  heard  so  much  evil  and  so  little  good. 
During  the  voyage  they  spent  most  of  their 
time  in  studying  the  new  language  that  soon 
they  would  have  to  speak,  but  they  could  not 
do  much  with  it  in  the  four  days  that  were 
taken  in  crossing  the  sea.  They  landed  at  La- 
kemba ;  but  they  had  no  introduction  to  the 
people  of  Fiji  except  that  contained  in  a  letter 
written  to  the  chief  by  King  George  of  Tonga, 
and  that  did  not  seem  a  very  strong  weapon 
just  then  with  which  to  approach  the  crowd  of 
painted  savages,  dancing  and  yelling  on  the 
beach,  armed  with  clubs  ten  or  fifteen  feet  long 
and  battle-axes  of  hard  wood.  Still,  the  stran- 
gers made  their  way  to  the  shore  and  forced 
themselves  into  the  presence  of  the  king,  who 

Heroes  of  the  South  Seas.  8 


114  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

read  the  letter  and  condescended  to  say  that  the 
missionaries  might  stay  if  they  wished.  He  even 
promised  to  build  houses  for  them. 

That  point  was  gained  then,  and  the  two 
men  gratefully  accepted  the  king's  permission  to 
live  among  his  subjects,  and  went  to  work  to  see 
what  could  be  done  with  the  barbarians.  They 
were  interested  in  these  new-comers,  that  was 
certain,  and  were  curious  about  their  homes  and 
their  ways,  so  unlike  their  own.  They  were 
willing  to  listen,  too,  to  the  words  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, and  after  a  while  a  church  was  built, 
and  the  natives  came  to  the  services.  But 
troubles  there  were,  aud  hindrances,  and  all 
manner  of  discouragement,  of  course.  Was 
there  ever  a  mission  without  its  share  of  these  ? 
and  wicked  Fiji  could  not  be  reformed  in  a  day. 
The  crops  of  the  teachers  were  destroyed,  their 
goods  were  stolen,  and  they  themselves  were 
often  in  danger  of  losing  their  lives.  Sometimes 
there  were  terrible  cannibal-feasts  close  beside 
them,  and  they  would  have  to  shut  themselves 
within  their  own  homes,  and  pray,  pray  all  night 
long,  with  sad  hearts  and  distracted  minds. 

Frequently,  also,  they  suffered  from  lack  of 
food  and  clothing,  and  sometimes  had  to  barter 
some  of  the  few  things  that  they  had  that  were 
not  mere  necessities  of  life  for  just  enough  to 
eat  to  keep  themselves  alive. 


THE  FIJI  ISLANDS.  11$ 

But  help  was  coming-  to  these  brave  men. 
Down  in  England  were  two  young  fellows, 
named  John  Hunt  and  James  Calvert,  who  were 
going  out  as  missionaries,  and  who  thought  that 
this  dreary,  dingy  little  corner  of  the  world 
would  be  a  good  place  to  work  in.  So  to  Fiji 
they  came,  in  the  year  1838.  Even  with  this 
addition  to  their  force  the  missionaries  had  to 
spread  themselves  over  as  much  ground  as  pos- 
sible. John  Hunt  was  placed  first  at  Rewa  and 
afterwards  at  Buwa,  a  small  island  on  the  east- 
ern side  of  Great  Fiji.  James  Calvert  and  his 
faithful  wife  were  settled  at  Lakemba. 

The  first  thing  that  Mr.  Calvert  had  to  do 
was  to  bury  the  heads,  hands  and  feet  of  eighty 
persons  who  had  just  been  slaughtered  for  a  can- 
nibal feast.  This  was  a  heart-sickening  opening 
to  his  task,  but  he  did  not  falter  or  fall  back  on 
that  account.  He  lighted  his  little  candle  in  the 
black  night  of  heathenism  and  after  a  while  it 
made  its  glimmer  seen.  The  latest  comers  had 
brought  a  printing-press  with  them  across  the 
sea,  and  the  books  and  translations  of  parts  of  the 
Bible  that  had  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Cross  and 
Mr.  Cargill  were  printed  at  once.  Mr.  Calvert 
could  not  visit  all  the  islands  in  his  circuit,  but 
the  people  used  to  come  from  all  around  to  La- 
kemba to  buy  goods,  and  they  always  stopped  at 
the  mission-house  for  a  call.  Here  they  were  al- 


Il6  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

•ways  gladly  welcomed,  and  they  never  failed  to 
carry  away  something  to  think  about  and  talk 
over. 

So  the  light  began  to  steal  out  from  Lakemba 
to  other  islands,  and  the  people  began  to  ask  for 
more  beams  from  that  candle  set  aflame  by  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness.  Teachers  were  sent  to 
them,  and  it  really  seemed,  in  many  places,  as 
though  the  poor  natives  had  only  been  waiting 
for  a  little  guidance  in  order  to  turn  their  faces 
towards  the  Light  of  the  World.  The  "  Lotu," 
they  called  the  new  religion,  and  many  of  them 
grasped  it  eagerly.  Whole  villages  gave  up 
their  idols  and  humbly  and  patiently  set  out 
on  the  Christian  path,  that  would  shine  for  them 
more  and  more  until  the  perfect  day  should 
dawn  upon  them. 

On  the  island  of  Ono  the  people  had  been 
going  through  severe  trials,  coming  from  war 
and  sickness,  and  they  had  been  praying  to  their 
gods  for  aid.  But  no  answers  had  been  given 
them,  and  they  were  almost  in  despair,  when  one 
of  their  number  heard  in  some  way  that  the  na- 
tives of  the  Friendly  Islands  said  that  there  was 
but  one  God,  whom  everybody  ought  to  serve, 
and  that,  moreover,  one  day  in  seven  was  espe- 
cially set  apart  for  his  worship.  The  inhabitants 
of  Ono  at  once  made  up  their  minds  to  go  to  this 
God  for  help,  and  to  follow  his  wishes  by  keep- 


THE   FIJI   ISLANDS.  117 

ing  one  day  sacred  to  him.  For  several  months 
they  clung  steadfastly  to  this  purpose,  and  then 
their  prayers  found  a  response.  A  canoe  filled 
with  men  from  a  Christian  island  was  driven  out 
of  its  course  by  a  storm — one  of  God's  good 
storms,  that  have  done  so  much  for  the  South 
Sea  folk — and  this  canoe  brought  them  people 
who  could  tell  them  that  which  they  had  been 
longing  to  know.  When  news  of  their  need  was 
carried  to  Lakemba  a  teacher  was  sent  to  them, 
and  when  he  reached  Ono  he  was  greeted  by 
twenty  persons  who  had  given  up  idolatry  and 
were  ready  to  take  Christianity  into  their  hearts. 
A  chapel  was  built,  many  converts  were  bap- 
tized, and  of  all  the  work  in  Fiji  that  done  at 
Ono  has  been  the  most  gratifying. 


Il8  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  FIJI   ISLANDS.      CANNIBALS  CHANGED  TO 
CHRISTIANS. 

MR.  CALVERT  made  one  or  two  visits  to  Ono 
and  was  always  encouraged  by  the  good  work 
that  was  going  on  in  that  island.  At  one  time 
there  was  special  interest  among  the  people  and 
whole  days  and  nights  were  spent  in  praying 
and  singing.  One  of  the  native  converts  said  . 
"  I  am  thankful  to  have  lived  until  the  Lord's 
work  began.  I  feel  it  in  my  heart.  I  hold  Je- 
sus ;  I  am  happy.  My  heart  is  full  of  love  to 
God." 

But  there  was  one  place  upon  which  the  mis- 
sionaries had  fixed  their  gaze  and  on  which  their 
eyes  were  now  resting  with  especial  anxiety  and 
desire.  That  place  was  Mbau,  where  lived  the 
king  Tanoa,  who  had  great  influence  over  the 
whole  of  Fiji.  He  was  one  of  the  most  blood- 
thirsty rulers  among  all  the  Pacific  Islands,  but 
his  son,  Thokambau,  in  whose  hands  the  gov- 
ernment now  really  lay,  was  even  worse  than  his 
father.  He  had  been  brought  up  to  find  his 
pleasure  not  in  healthful  sports,  like  ball  or  ten- 
nis, nor  in  the  improving  study  of  books  and  na- 


THE   FIJI   ISLANDS.  119 

ture,  nor  in  harmless  occupations  like  stamp-col- 
lecting or  bug-hunting.  His  amusement  came 
from  fighting  and  from  killing  people,  in  tortur- 
ing his  captives  and  watching  their  agonies,  and 
his  education  was  for  the  sake  of  making  him 
familiar  with  all  sorts  of  wicked  heathen  cus- 
toms. His  royal  name  was  "  Vuni  Valu,"  which 
means  "  Root  of  War,"  and  a  very  good  name 
it  was  for  the  fierce  prince. 

"  I  hate  your  Christianity,"  he  said  to  the  mis- 
sionaries. "  Do  you  think  that  you  can  keep  us 
from  our  wars  and  from  eating  men  ?  Never  /" 

But  the  missionaries  were  praying  for  these 
bitter  enemies  of  theirs  with  all  their  hearts,  and 
they  knew  that  there  was  Some  One  who  was 
with  them  who  was  stronger  than  all  those  who 
were  with  Thokambau,  even  though  as  yet  not 
one  of  the  teachers  had  been  allowed  to  settle  at 
Mbau.  Still  they  had  some  things  to  cheer  them 
in  their  work :  the  king  of  Lakemba  became  a 
Christian,  and  another  chief  was  converted  who 
built  a  beautiful  chapel  at  Lakemba. 

In  1845  good  John  Hunt  died,  after  ten  years 
of  toil  among  the  Fijians.  He  was  so  weak  in 
his  last  moments  that  he  was  forbidden  to 
speak,  but  he  could  not  keep  quiet.  "Oh,  let 
me  pray  once  more  for  Fiji,"  he  begged.  "  O 
God,  bless  Fiji !  Save  Fiji !  Thou  knowest  my 
soul  has  loved  Fiji !" 


120  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

The  natives  who  had  been  under  his  care 
stood  by  in  great  distress  at  seeing  their  friend 
slipping  away  from  them.  One  old  war-chief 
prayed  piteously,  with  the  tears  running  down 
his  cheek  :  "  O  Lord  !  we  know  that  we  are  very 
evil,  but  spare  Thy  servant.  Take  me,  take  ten 
of  us,  but  spare  Thy  servant  to  preach  Christ  to 
the  people." 

It  was  time,  however,  for  John  Hunt  to  go  to 
his  reward,  but  his  prayers  for  Fiji  were  not 
forgotten  above. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Hunt's  death  Mr.  Calvert 
moved  over  to  Viwa,  and  soon  the  harvest  be- 
gan to  be  gathered  in.  During  the  eight  fol- 
lowing years  great  progress  was  made  with  the 
people.  In  1853  a  missionary  named  Waterhouse 
was  really  admitted  to  Mbau,  and  even  those  hard- 
hearted men,  Tanoa  and  Thokambau,  could  not 
close  their  ears  so  tightly  that  some  whisper  of 
the  wondrous  message  could  not  force  its  way  in 
and  refuse  to  be  thrust  out  again.  Still  Thoka- 
mbau would  do  nothing  more  than  promise  that 
he  would  pay  some  attention  to  the  words  of  the 
teachers  when  he  should  have  subdued  all  his 
enemies. 

One  day,  when  the  missionaries  were  away 
from  home,  word  was  brought  to  their  wives 
that  some  strangers  had  come  to  Fiji  on  a  visit, 
and  that  fourteen  women  were  to  be  sacrificed  as 


THE  FIJI   ISLANDS.  121 

an  offering  in  their  honor,  according  to  the  Fiji 
notions  of  hospitality.  Two  of  these  brave  mis- 
sionary women,  Mrs.  Calvert  and  Mrs.  Lyth,  re- 
solved to  stop  this  dreadful  deed,  if  possible. 
Each  took  a  whale's  tooth  in  her  hand,  which  is 
the  usual  present  in  Fiji  when  one  has  a  favor  to 
ask  of  a  king,  and  hurried  away  by  canoe  to  the 
island  of  Mbau,  about  two  miles  away.  Women 
are  forbidden  to  enter  the  king's  house,  but 
there  was  no  time  to  pause  to  think  about  laws 
then.  Into  the  king's  presence  they  rushed,  held 
out  their  gift,  and  made  known  their  request. 
The  king  was  quite  overcome  by  their  daring, 
but  was  so  struck  by  their  courage  that  he  said 
that  they  might  have  the  lives  of  the  women 
who  had  not  yet  been  killed,  and  five  of  the  vic- 
tims were  saved. 

When  Tanoa  died  the  missionaries  tried  to 
persuade  his  son  to  leave  out  the  ceremony  of 
strangling  his  wives,  "  for  grass  for  lining  his 
grave,"  as  the  expression  goes  in  Fiji.  Mr. 
Calvert  even  went  so  far  as  to  offer  to  have  one 
of  his  fingers  cut  off,  to  follow  the  Fiji  fashion 
in  mourning,  if  the  custom  were  omitted,  but 
Thokambau  insisted  on  carrying  out  the  old 
practice. 

But  even  this  "  king  of  the  cannibal  islands  " 
was  conquered  at  last.  He  had  many  misfor- 
tunes, one  after  another.  He  was  defeated  in 


122  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

battle,  his  life  was  threatened  by  his  foes,  and 
he  became  sick  and  discouraged  and  humble. 
He  declared  that  he  would  give  up  his  idols  and 
become  a  Christian.  In  1854  he  called  a  large 
mass-meeting  at  Mbau.  The  drums  that  were 
formerly  used  to  announce  a  cannibal  feast  were 
now  beaten  to  summon  the  people  to  church. 
Three  hundred  persons  heard  and  accepted  the 
invitation,  and  looked  on  in  awe  and  wonder  as 
the  "  Root  of  War  "  came  in,  accompanied  by 
his  wives,  children,  and  relations,  and  knelt  in 
worship  before  the  Christian's  God. 

After  this  time  he  came  regularly  to  the 
meetings,  kept  Sunday  faithfully,  and  began  to 
learn  his  letters.  He  was  taught  by  his  own  lit- 
tle boy,  who  was  only  six  years  old  ;  but  it  was 
hard  work  to  start  on  the  task  of  forming  ac- 
quaintance with  the  alphabet  at  the  age  of  fifty, 
and  poor  old  Thokambau  often  fell  asleep 
during  the  lesson.  In  1857  he  did  indeed  be- 
come truly  converted,  and  he  was  baptized  under 
the  name  of  Ebenezer.  He  must  have  been  in 
earnest  in  his  new  life,  for  he  stood  up  before  all 
the  people,  whom  he  had  made  treat  him  almost 
as  though  he  were  a  god,  and  owned  all  his  old 
wickedness. 

"  I  have  been  a  bad  man,"  he  said.  "  The 
missionaries  came  and  invited  me  to  embrace 
Christianity,  but  I  said  to  them,  '  I  will  con- 


THE   FIJI   ISLANDS.  123 

tinue  to  fight.'  God  has  singularly  preserved 
my  life.  I  desire  to  acknowledge  him  as  the 
only  and  true  God." 

In  1874  Thokambau  ceded  the  Fijian  Islands 
to  England,  and  in  1886  he  died,  a  gentle,  faith- 
ful, intelligent  Christian.  His  club  and  the 
bowl  that  used  to  hold  the  native  drink  of  which 
he  had  been  fond  he  presented  to  Queen  Victo- 
ria, and  they  may  still  be  seen  in  the  British 
Museum. 

After  eighteen  years  of  labor  Mr.  Waterhouse 
also  died.  His  last  words  were,  "  Missionaries ! 
Missionaries !  Missionaries  !"  During  the  pe- 
riod of  his  stay  in  Fiji  the  whole  of  the  Bible 
was  translated  and  many  copies  of  the  New 
Testament  were  circulated. 

At  last  Mr.  Calvert  went  back  to  England, 
leaving  other  missionaries  in  his  place.  In  1885 
he  paid  a  visit  to  his  old  field,  and  found  it  an 
entirely  different  place  from  what  it  was  when 
he  had  first  seen  it.  One  hundred  thousand 
people,  out  of  a  population  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  thousand,  were  Christian  converts. 
There  were  two  hundred  chapels,  over  two  thou- 
sand missionary  preachers  and  teachers,  and 
twenty-six  thousand  church-members.  In  all 
the  eighty  inhabited  islands  there  was  not  a  per- 
son who  was  called  a  heathen.  James  Calvert 
died  in  1892. 


124  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH  SEAS. 

On  the  island  of  Mbau  there  was  once  a  large 
stone  in  front  of  the  chief  temple.  Against  this 
stone  the  bodies  of  victims  were  dashed,  as  an 
offering  to  the  gods,  before  they  were  given 
over  for  the  cannibal  feasts.  It  has  now  been 
taken  from  its  old  position  and  placed  as  a  bap- 
tismal font  in  the  Mbau  church,  and  for  nearly 
forty  years  it  has  had  upon  it  no  new  stain  of 
human  blood. 

There  are  now  about  one  thousand  Wesleyan 
churches  in  Fiji.  Eighty-three  per  cent,  of  the 
population  is  made  up  of  church-members,  and 
there  are  over  one  thousand  preachers  and  over 
two  thousand  teachers.  Every  morning  and 
evening  may  be  heard  the  sound  of  hymns  float- 
ing on  the  air  and  the  low  murmur  of  voices 
engaged  in  prayer. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  people  in  Fiji  are 
sincere  in  their  Christian  aims  and  desires  by 
the  hearty  way  in  which  they  throw  themselves 
into  the  task  of  giving  the  gospel  to  others.  As 
we  shall  learn  by  and  by,  they  have  been  quick 
to  respond  to  the  call  from  New  Guinea.  They 
have  sent  teachers  to  New  Britain,  and  the  light 
has  begun  to  creep  over  to  New  Ireland  too.  A 
Wesleyan  missionary,  the  Rev.  George  Brown, 
began  a  mission  in  New  Britain  in  1875.  Many 
native  teachers  went  with  him,  and  though  sev- 
eral were  killed,  others  took  their  places,  and 


THE  FIJI   ISLANDS.  12$ 

their  wives  would  not  be  left  behind.  One  brave 
woman,  who  was  urged  not  to  risk  her  life  in  so 
savage  a  place,  replied  simply,  "  The  outrigger 
must  go  with  the  canoe ;  I  go  with  my  hus- 
band." 

Forty-one  churches  were  built  in  New  Brit- 
ain, and  six  thousand  persons  go  regularly  to  the 
services.  There  are  nine  hundred  church-mem- 
bers, over  one  thousand  Sunday-school  scholars, 
and  forty-five  native  preachers.  In  1892  the 
people  gave  $150  to  missions. 

In  Fiji  $5,000  is  the  yearly  offering  for  mis- 
sionary work.  One  of  the  native  collections 
was  made  up  of  the  following  articles,  show- 
ing that  each  person  gave  as  he  was  able : 
Seventy-six  mats,  twenty-four  baskets,  three 
bows  with  arrows,  seven  pieces  of  sandal  wood, 
sixteen  fans,  sixty-two  fine  clubs,  one  pillow, 
thirty-one  spears,  eleven  hand-clubs,  four  wom- 
en's dresses,  three  pieces  of  native  cloth,  five 
water  vessels,  four  combs,  and  one  pig. 

One  is  now  as  safe  in  Fiji  as  in  any  part  of 
the  world.  There  are  no  British  troops  there. 
The  only  protection  needed  is  given  by  a  hand- 
ful of  native  police. 

A  sea-captain  was  once  driven  ashore  on 
one  of  these  islands  and  was  much  alarmed, 
as  he  expected  to  be  devoured  by  cannibals 
without  much  warning.  But  to  his  surprise 


126  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

he  was  welcomed  by  men  in  civilized  dress, 
who  took  him  into  their  houses  and  treated  him 
with  all  kindness  and  respect.  When  it  was 
time  to  go  to  bed  his  host  told  him  it  was  the 
hour  for  evening  worship,  and  asked  him  to 
lead  in  prayer,  but  the  captain  had  to  confess 
that  he  did  not  know  much  about  praying ; 
so,  to  his  shame,  he  had  to  kneel  down  and  let 
the  poor  Fijian  speak  for  him  to  his  Father  in 
heaven.  He  was  so  much  impressed  with  the 
circumstances  of  this  visit  that  he  sought  the 
Christian  way  for  himself  and  became  in  time 
a  missionary,  and  tried  to  teach  others  what 
had  been  taught  him  by  a  man  who  was  once 
a  cannibal. 

There  was  another  man  who  went  to  the 
Fiji  Islands — an  English  earl  and  an  infidel. 
He  smiled  in  a  superior  manner  when  he  met 
the  natives. 

"  You  are  a  great  chief,"  he  said  to  one  of 
them,  "  and  it  is  really  a  pity  that  you  have  been 
so  foolish  as  to  listen  to  the  missionaries.  No- 
body believes  any  longer  in  that  old  book  called 
the  Bible,  or  in  that  story  of  Jesus  Christ.  They 
have  all  learned  better.  I  am  sorry  for  you,  that 
you  have  been  so  foolish  as  to  take  it  in." 

The  chief's  eyes  flashed  as  he  replied,  "  Do 
you  see  that  great  stone  over  there?  On  that 
stone  we  smashed  the  heads  of  our  victims  to 


THE   FIJI    ISLANDS.  I2/ 

death.  Do  you  see  that  native  oven  over  yonder  ? 
In  that  oven  we  roasted  the  human  bodies  for 
our  great  feasts.  Now  if  it  had  n't  been  for  the 
good  missionaries,  and  that  old  Book,  and  the 
love  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  has  changed  us  from 
savages  into  God's  children,  you  would  never 
leave  this  spot.  You  have  to  thank  God  for  the 
Gospel ;  for  without  it  here  we  should  have  killed 
you,  and  roasted  you  in  yonder  oven,  and  feasted 
upon  your  body  in  no  time." 

So  we  may  say,  with  one  of  these  changed 
Fijians,  "Ask  no  more,  What  can  the  Lotu  do? 
after  what  our  eyes  have  seen  this  day.  The 
Lotu  is  of  God,  and  whatever  we  now  see  is  the 
work  of  God." 

There  are  a  "good  many  Hindoos  now  in  the 
Fiji  Islands,  and  missionary  work  has  to  be 
done  among  these  people.  It  is  interesting  to 
know  that  a  Hindoo  convert  from  India,  named 
John  Williams,  has  gone  to  Fiji  to  labor  among 
his  countrymen. 


128  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  :     LITTLE  JOHNNIE  GEDDIE. 

THE  New  Hebrides  Islands  belong  to  the 
Melanesian  group  and  number  about  forty  isl- 
ands, of  which  thirty  are  inhabited.  They  ex- 
tend three  hundred  miles  from  southeast  to 
northwest.  The  population  is  about  one  hun- 
dred thousand. 

The  natives  are  mostly  Papuans,  with  dark 
skin  and  curly  hair.  They  were  once  all  canni- 
bals, and  they  had  no  regard  for  human  life, 
and  of  women  they  thought  nothing  at  all.  "  It 
was  only  a  girl,  you  know,"  said  one  man,  care- 
lessly, after  he  had  confessed  to  having  buried 
his  own  child  alive.  Still  they  must  have  wives, 
as  they  were  convenient  in  many  ways,  but  they 
bought  them  as  they  bought  any  other  article 
for  the  household,  paying  for  them  with  pigs, 
the  number  of  pigs  varying  on  the  different  isl- 
ands in  proportion  as  women  were  scarce  or  nu- 
merous. The  people  believed  in  a  life  after 
the  death  of  the  body,  but  were  in  continual  fear 
of  evil  spirits  and  witches.  They  had  many 
gods :  gods  of  the  sea,  gods  of  the  bush,  and  gods 
of  everything.  They  believed,  too,  in  men 


THE   NEW   HEBRIDES.  129 

who,  as  they  thought,  had  power  over  disease, 
over  the  wind,  over  the  thunder,  and  over  other 
forces  of  nature. 

The  first  missionary  who  tried  to  reach  these 
people  was  that  untiring  John  Williams,  who 
was  murdered  at  that  cruel  little  island  of  Erro- 
manga. 

On  hearing  of  his  death  twenty-five  men  at 
once  offered  themselves  as  missionaries,  and  the 
Christians  in  England  made  up  their  minds  that 
the  New  Hebrides  must  be  won  for  Christ.  The 
missionaries  at  Samoa  managed  to  station  teach- 
ers at  Erromanga,  and  at  some  other  islands, 
but  they  could  not  stay  long,  strong  and  stead- 
fast as  they  were.  Some  of  them  died,  and  the 
rest  gave  up  the  work  in  despair.  In  1841  Mr. 
Murray  left  some  teachers  at  Aneityum,  and  in 
1842  Mr.  Turner  and  Mr.  Nisbet  went  to  Tanna; 
but  Tanna  was  not  yet  ready  for  the  gospel,  and 
the  missionaries  were  driven  away.  In  1845  an- 
other  attempt  was  made,  and  some  teachers  were 
placed  there,  and  later  four  natives  from  the  isl- 
ands were  taken  to  the  Missionary  Institute  at 
Samoa,  given  three  years'  training,  and  then 
sent  home  to  do  what  they  could  among  their 
countrymen.  Then  good  Bishop  Selwyn  would 
call  occasionally  in  his  mission  boat. 

The  natives  of  the  island  of  Aneityum  are 
somewhat  different  from  the  other  inhabitants 

Heroes  of  the  South  Seas.  -7 


130  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

of  Eastern  Polynesia.  They  are  small,  dark,  and 
slender,  and  lack  the  spirit  and  energy  of  many 
of  the  South  Sea  Islanders.  The  climate  of  the 
island  is  like  June  all  the  year  round.  Bananas, 
cocoanuts  and  yams  grow  there  in  abundance, 
and  there  is  no  lack  of  bread-fruit,  sandal-wood, 
sugar-cane  and  arrowroot.  There  are  no  wild 
beasts,  and  no  poisonous  snakes,  and  nothing 
was  savage  or  unlovely  except  the  people.  But 
the  people !  They  seemed  to  some  persons  to 
be  too  little  like  men,  and  too  much  like  ani- 
mals, for  anything  to  be  done  for  them.  But 
God  had  a  man  ready  for  even  a  place  like 
this.  Not  a  strong,  athletic  man,  like  Bishop 
Selwyn  or  John  Coleridge  Patteson,  but  a  fine 
man  for  all  that — a  man  with  a  big  heart,  full 
of  the  love  of  God  and  his  fellow-man,  and  one 
who,  giving  all  diligence,  added  to  his  faith 
virtue,  and  patience,  and  many  other  traits  of 
which  Peter  has  written. 

"  Little  Johnnie  Geddie  "  he  was  called  when 
he  was  a  boy  at  home  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  used 
to  pore  over  the  stories  of  the  heroes  of  the 
South  Seas  until  he  was  filled  with  their  spirit, 
and  was  glowing  with  a  great  desire  to  do  as 
they  had  done.  He  would  be  a  missionary,  too, 
he  told  his  mother,  and  steadily  did  he  hold  to 
his  purpose.  Through  striving  and  self-denial 
he  managed  to  get  an  education,  and  then  he 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  13! 

had  to  win  his  way  into  the  work  on  which  he 
had  set  his  heart. 

With  his  old  horse,  whose  name  was  Sam- 
son, he  started  on  a  tour  round  the  country  and 
talked  missions  wherever  he  went.  People  lis- 
tened to  him  because  they  could  not  help  listen- 
ing1. The  young  man  was  so  earnest,  and  so 
determined,  and  so  burning  with  his  subject, 
that  the  churches  were  all  stirred  too,  and 
they  agreed  to  raise  enough  money  for  his  sup- 
port in  his  chosen  field. 

Then  he  gave  himself  up  to  studying  medi- 
cine and  to  learning  other  useful  things.  He 
found  out  how  to  build  a  house,  and  a  boat,  and 
then  felt  as  though  lie  might  venture  out  to  his 
work. 

At  last  he  set  forth,  on  a  small  brig,  on  a 
long  journey,  of  nineteen  thousand  miles,  round 
Cape  Horn  to  the  Sandwich  Islands.  At  this 
place  he  stayed  several  weeks,  and  then  was  off 
to  the  Samoan  group.  At  Samoa  he  lingered 
for  two  months,  during  which  time  he  learned 
the  Samoan  language,  and  then  the  John  Wil- 
liams took  him  with  another  missionary,  whose 
name  was  Powell,  over  to  the  New  Hebrides. 

They  decided  to  begin  work  at  Aneityum, 
but  they  were  not  as  warmly  welcomed  as  they 
might  have  been.  "  You  must  n't  hurt  the 
white  men,"  said  the  chief,  Nohoat,  to  his  fol- 


132  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

lowers,  "  but  you  may  steal  from  them  as  much 
as  you  like,  and  by  and  by  they  will  be  tired  and 
go  away." 

But  Mr.  Geddie  had  no  mind  to  fall  in  with 
this  arrangment.  He  built  a  house  and  then  set 
at  work  at  the  language.  He  could  not  make  the 
natives  talk  at  first,  but  by  offering  each  one  a 
biscuit  for  each  word  that  he  said  he  succeeded 
in  coaxing  away  from  them  some  knowledge  of 
their  speech.  This  was  certainly  an  easy  way 
of  earning  one's  living,  but  perhaps  the  plan 
sometimes  cost  Mr.  Geddie  his  own  meal.  When 
he  had  gained  enough  of  the  language  to  make 
himself  understood  he  started  out  to  explore 
his  island,  and  on  this  tour  he  preached  at  every 
point  where  he  stopped — sometimes  under  the 
trees,  sometimes  by  the  sea-shore — and  when  he 
went  home  he  sent  teachers  to  go  on  with  the 
work  he  had  begun.  Then  he  held  regular 
services  at  his  first  station  and  the  people  came 
to  the  meetings,  although  they  really  thought 
they  should  be  paid  for  doing  so. 

For  a  while  everything  seemed  to  be  doing 
well,  when  a  sudden  change  came  over  the  na- 
tives. They  stole  from  the  missionaries  more 
frequently  than  ever,  and  abused  their  belong, 
ings.  One  of  the  sacred  men  of  the  island,  who 
had  the  remarkable  title  of  "  The  man  who  rules 
the  sea,"  said  that  the  reason  for  this  conduct 


THE   NEW   HEBRIDES.  133 

was  that  Mr.  Geddie  was  using  his  cocoanuts  in- 
stead of  saving  them  for  the  sacred  feasts,  and 
that  the  gods  were  displeased  because  he  had 
taken  coral  for  his  house  and  so  they  had  driven 
away  the  fish  ;  and  besides  he  had  built  a  fence 
in  the  way  of  the  gods,  so  that  they  could  not 
reach  the  sea,  and  as  their  wrath  had  fallen  on 
the  islanders  and  brought  them  disease  and 
death  the  natives  were  revenging  themselves 
upon  the  strangers. 

John  Geddie  was  too  kind  and  sensible  to 
laugh  at  the  ignorant  natives  for  their  foolish 
notions.  He  tried  to  yield  to  their  whims  so 
far  as  possible,  and  by  his  gentleness  and  gen- 
erosity he  kept  his  influence  over  them  and  was 
all  the  time  gaining  a  little  more.  But  they 
were  very  suspicious  and  superstitious,  and  very 
fond  of  fighting,  so  that  they  were  always  fall- 
ing into  their  old  ways  and  having  to  be  pulled 
out  again. 

When  the  island  was  visited  by  a  hurricane 
Nohoat  said  that  it  was  caused  by  one  of  their 
wonder-workers,  called  "  The  wind-maker,"  and 
he  tried  to  kill  him.  This  brought  on  a  war 
and  Mr.  Geddie  had  to  be  peace-maker.  He 
stepped  bravely  in  between  the  two  parties  drawn 
up  for  battle  and  told  them  that  it  was  Jehovah 
only  who  ruled  the  clouds,  and  that  He  would  be 
displeased  with  them  if  they  should  fight  about 


134  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

his  actions.  At  last  the  natives  agreed  that  they 
would  hold  a  council  over  the  matter,  and  the 
chiefs  made  up  the  quarrel  by  giving  each  other 
a  spear  and  piece  of  cloth. 

Next  all  the  missionaries  fell  ill,  and  the 
natives  declared  that  the  gods  were  now  indeed 
angry  with  them.  Only  a  few  persons  would 
come  to  church,  and  those  who  were  present  at 
the  meetings  did  not  behave  very  well.  Some 
of  them  would  use  the  opportunity  for  a  com- 
fortable little  nap,  and  some  would  smoke  their 
pipes,  and  some  would  run  away  before  the 
service  was  half  over.  Mr.  Powell's  health  gave 
out  altogether,  and  when  the  John  Williams 
touched  at  the  island  he  seized  the  chance  to  go 
back  to  Samoa. 

For  three  years  John  Geddie  was  alone 
among  the  savages,  except  for  his  wife  and 
three  little  children,  but  he  kept  bravely  on 
with  his  work.  He  printed  a  book  of  twelve 
pages,  and  started  both  a  boys'  and  a  girls' 
school.  The  natives  began  to  come  to  church 
again  after  a  while,  and  as  time  passed  on  four 
prominent  men  gave  up  their  idols  and  became 
Christians.  Then  the  people  all  took  the  mis- 
sionary into  favor  and  wished  to  make  him  a 
chief.  More  natives  turned  away  from  heathen- 
ism, and  the  converts  went  out  and  preached  to 
their  neighbors  in  other  parts  of  the  island. 


THE   NEW   HEBRIDES.  135 

Nothing  was  stolen  now ;  no  clubs  nor  spears 
came  to  church,  but  the  people  were  there  with- 
out them.  Attentive  and  reverent  they  were 
too ;  and  indeed  they  were  so  anxious  now  to 
be  like  their  friend  Mr.  Geddie  that  they  felt 
that  they  must  be  dressed  like  him.  But  on  the 
whole  island  there  was  not  enough  of  the  kind 
of  clothing  that  he  wore  to  supply  everybody, 
so  the  natives  hit  upon  a  plan  to  make  it  go 
round.  One  article  would  be  passed  from  one 
member  of  a  family  to  another,  so  that  each  one 
might  have  a  turn  at  wearing  it  one  Sunday  at 
least.  Sometimes  this  precious  bit  of  raiment 
would  be  only  a  scrap  of  an  old  sail,  but  it  was 
eagerly  put  on,  as  being  as  near  to  a  white  man's 
garment  as  anything  that  they  could  find. 

The  heathen  party  at  last  became  alarmed, 
and  resolved  to  bring  to  an  end  all  this  interest 
in  the  new  religion.  Nohoat,  the  chief,  prom- 
ised Mr.  Geddie  that  he  should  not  be  hurt ; 
they  only  wished  to  sweep  away  all  the  native 
Christians.  But  if  Mr.  Geddie's  converts  were 
touched  he  was  touched  too,  and  in  a  very  ten- 
der spot. 

"  If  you  make  war  on  my  Christians,"  said 
he,  "we  will  all  go  away  to  another  island." 

Now  that  was  not  to  the  liking  of  the  old 
chief.  He  felt  that  it  was  a  great  distinction  to 
have  a  missionary  all  to  himself,  on  his  own 


136  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

island  ;  and,  besides,  what  should  he  do  for  med- 
icine and  the  other  useful  things  that  went  with 
the  missionaries  ? 

He  would  wait  a  while  before  stirring  up 
strife,  after  all,  he  thought ;  but  in  little  under- 
hand ways  the  converts  were  persecuted  all  the 
time  by  their  heathen  neighbors,  and  Mr.  Ged- 
die's  life  was  often  threatened.  In  the  midst  of 
everything  he  fell  ill ;  but  his  loving  disciples 
were  so  faithful  and  brave  and  steadfast  that  he 
was  comforted  and  helped  in  his  trials,  and  at 
last  the  clouds  blew  over.  A  sickness  from 
which  the  Christians  were  free  broke  out  among 
the  heathen,  and  some  of  them  began  to  think 
that  perhaps  they  had  been  mistaken  in  sup- 
posing that  the  Christian  religion  brought  them 
trouble,  and  they  were  glad  enough  to  have  that 
good  Christian,  John  Geddie,  at  hand  just  then 
with  his  little  stock  of  remedies. 

Another  of  the  medicine-men  was  converted, 
and  as  he  at  once  began  to  teach  others  the 
number  of  Christians  grew  from  day  to  day. 
Parts  of  the  Bible  were  printed  in  the  language 
of  the  island,  and  in  spite  of  the  enmity  and 
evil  influence  of  the  sandal-wood  traders  then  on 
Aneityum  the  gospel  kept  on  spreading.  One 
man  stretched  out  his  arms  and  then  brought 
his  hands  together,  saying,  "  The  word  of  God  is 
like  this ;  it  has  gone  round  the  island." 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  137 

Even  Nohoat  showed  that  he  was  dropping 
some  of  his  old  ideas,  by  eating  food  forbidden 
to  chiefs,  and  "  Father  Geddie,"  as  he  was 
called,  was  authority  on  almost  every  subject. 
Whenever  there  was  a  disagreement  he  had  to 
settle  it,  and  his  advice  had  to  be  given  in  many 
matters.  The  sacred  groves  were  cut  down 
and  the  sacred  stones  were  scattered. 

Mr.  Geddie  was  so  busy  that  he  wrote  home 
and  begged  for  a  missionary  to  be  sent  out  to 
help  him,  but  no  missionary  came.  Then  his 
supplies  gave  out,  and  he  would  have  had  no 
bread  at  all  if  some  shipwrecked  sailors  had  not 
shared  some  mouldy  bread  with  him.  He  was 
sick,  too,  but  he  had  no  time  to  devote  to  rest 
and  nursing,  for  he  had  to  bolster  himself  up  in 
bed  and  prepare  doses  for  others. 

The  John  Williams  had  not  been  seen  for 
two  years  and  a  half,  but  when  the  boat  did  ap- 
pear at  last  how  gladly  was  it  greeted ! 

The  Samoans  who  came  with  it  could  hardly 
believe  their  eyes  when  they  saw  what  a  change 
had  passed  over  the  island  in  four  years.  The 
language  had  been  learned  and  reduced  to  wri- 
ting, and  thousands  of  books  were  in  the  hands 
of  the  people,  hundreds  of  whom  could  read 
them.  Hundreds  of  children  were  in  school, 
half  of  the  four  thousand  people  on  the  island 
had  been  brought  to  Christ,  and  a  little  church 


138  HEROES  OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

had  been  formed  which  had  fifteen  members. 
This  was  the  first  church  of  the  Papuan  race. 

Soon  afterwards  Bishop  Selwyn  and  Cole- 
ridge Patteson  arrived  bringing  with  them  a 
new  missionary,  the  Rev.  John  Inglis.  He  was 
placed  upon  the  other  side  of  the  island,  where 
he  did  the  same  kind  of  work  that  John  Geddie 
had  done  on  this  side. 

After  a  while  Simeona  and  Pita,  the  two 
teachers  who  had  been  the  first  missionaries  at 
Aneityum,  moved  over  to  Tanna  to  see  what 
could  be  done  there,  and  two  or  three  years 
afterwards  the  old  chief  Nohoat,  who  had  be- 
come a  Christian,  went  forth  on  the  same 
errand. 

The  natives  at  Aneityum  built  a  house  for 
Mr.  Geddie,  and  a  large  church  which  would 
hold  one  thousand  people.  Chapels  and  school- 
houses  were  scattered  all  over  the  island.  A 
form  of  government  was  established,  and  a  law 
was  passed  forbidding  the  women  to  be  sold  as 
slaves.  More  land  was  cultivated,  and  the  peo- 
ple began  to  export  arrowroot  and  other  pro- 
ducts. 

After  fifteen  years  of  service  Mr.  Geddie 
went  home  for  a  short  vacation,  returning  to 
Aneityum  after  a  year's  absence.  But  the  cli- 
mate and  the  work  and  the  care  had  broken  his 
constitution,  and  in  1872  he  died,  at  the  age  of 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  139 

fifty-eight.  On  a  simple  tablet  in  his  church  is 
this  inscription  :  "  When  he  landed  in  1848  there 
were  no  Christians  here,  and  when  he  left  in 
1872  there  were  no  heathen." 

Nobody  could  wish  to  leave  a  nobler  record 
than  that  shown  in  these  words. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Murray  took  up  the  work  at 
Aneityum.  That  was  already  firmly  established, 
but  over  in  Erromanga  the  struggle  to  plant  the 
banner  of  the  cross  was  still  going  on. 

The  Rev.  George  Gordon,  from  Prince  Ed- 
ward's Island,  had  begun  work  in  1857,  an^  nad 
met  the  same  sort  of  trials  that  had  befallen 
Geddie  at  Aneityum,  though  with  a  less  happy 
result. 

In  1 86 1  there  was  a  hurricane  on  the  island 
and  an  epidemic  of  measles  as  well,  both  of 
which  misfortunes  were,  of  course,  laid  at  the 
door  of  the  foreigners,  and  the  natives  fell  upon 
Mr.  Gordon  and  his  wife  and  murdered  them 
both.  Bishop  Patteson,  who  stopped  at  the  isl- 
and soon  afterwards,  read  the  burial-service  over 
their  bodies,  not  thinking,  perhaps,  that  he 
would  soon  fall  in  the  same  manner  himself. 

Three  years  later  George  Gordon's  brother 
James  reached  the  spot  where  the  dreadful  deed 
had  been  done,  hoping  to  be  able  to  go  on  with 
the  work  that  his  brother  had  started.  In  1867  he 
was  joined  by  James  Mac  Nair,  from  Scotland, 


140  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

who  died  in  1870,  leaving  the  first  James  alone 
again. 

One  day  when  he  was  sitting  on  the  veranda 
of  his  own  home,  revising  the  translation  of  the 
seventh  chapter  of  Acts,  which  tells  of  the  death 
of  Stephen,  a  native  came  creeping  up  with  his 
tomahawk  and  laid  another  victim  low.  Like 
Stephen,  he  had  died  a  martyr  to  the  cause  that 
he  loved. 

Now  it  did  seem  as  though  Erromanga 
were  a  hopeless  field  and  all  labor  bestowed 
upon  her  were  worse  than  wasted ;  but  then  out 
stepped  another  heroic  soul,  saying,  "  Here  am 
I ;  send  me  !" 

Hugh  Robertson  was  his  name,  and  he,  too, 
was  from  Nova  Scotia.  He  had  once  read  a 
little  book  written  by  Mr.  Gill,  one  of  the  Sa- 
moan  missionaries,  called  "Gems  from  the  Coral 
Isles,"  and  these  stories  had  taken  so  strong  a 
hold  of  his  fancy,  and  so  touched  his  heart, 
that  nothing  seemed  to  him  worth  doing  except 
going  out  as  a  missionary  to  people  like  those 
about  whom  he  had  read.  Now  James  Gordon 
was  about  to  sail  from  Halifax  about  the  time 
that  young  Robertson  was  turning  over  this 
matter  in  his  mind,  so  the  latter  resolved  to  go 
with  him  and  see  for  himself  what  missionary 
work  was  like.  He  was  taken  to  Aneityum, 
where  he  lived  for  four  years  and  a  half,  keep- 


THE   NEW   HEBRIDES.  14! 

ing  his  keen  eyes  open  to  judge  fairly  what 
heathenism  really  was  when  one  saw  it  close  at 
hand,  with  all  the  romance  rubbed  off.  But 
what  he  found,  though  worse  than  he  had 
imagined,  only  made  him  more  eager  than  ever 
to  engage  in  a  conflict  with  evil ;  but  it  made 
him  feel,  too,  that  he  needed  more  preparation 
for  the  fight.  He  went  home,  took  a  course  in 
theology  and  a  course  in  medicine,  and  then 
was  ready  for  the  call  to  Erromanga  —  Erro- 
manga  that  killed  all  the  prophets  that  were 
sent  unto  her  and  would  not  be  helped  by  any- 
body. 

But  God  had  not  given  up  Erromanga,  so 
why  should  his  servant,  Hugh  Robertson?  It 
was  in  1872  that  he  set  sail  with  his  wife  for  the 
New  Hebrides.  Even  the  sailors  on  the  ship 
were  afraid  to  stay  near  the  land,  so  they  hastily 
placed  their  passengers  upon  the  shore  and  hur- 
ried away  as  fast  as  they  could.  It  must  have 
been  a  strange,  thrilling  moment  for  the  two 
deserted  beings  when  they  saw  the  vessel  dis- 
appear in  the  distance,  and  knew  that  they 
themselves  were  now  beyond  human  knowledge 
and  human  aid.  After  a  while  some  natives 
appeared  and  stared  at  them  in  surprise.  They 
could  speak  a  little  English,  and  after  a  few  mo- 
ments of  parleying  they  consented  to  conduct 
the  strangers  to  the  mission-house,  which  had 


142  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

been  surrounded  by  a  stockade  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  former  inhabitants.  There  the  sav- 
ages left  their  guests  for  a  time,  but  before 
long  back  they  came,  armed  with  clubs,  looking 
fierce  and  angry  and  like  anything  but  hospita- 
ble hosts.  Mr.  Robertson  stepped  out  upon  his 
veranda  and  told  them  quietly  and  pleasantly 
that  he  himself  could  do  nothing  against  them, 
of  course,  but  that  Jehovah,  his  God,  had  him 
in  charge,  and  if  they  should  injure  him  they 
would  have  an  account  to  settle  with  God. 
They  listened  to  these  words,  looked  at  each 
other,  and  then  slunk  away.  They  were  afraid 
of  the  One  whom  the  Christians  worshipped. 

Still,  when  their  wicked  feelings  rose  again, 
they  hurried  back,  fully  resolved  to  rid  them- 
selves of  these  white  people  who  had  forced 
themselves  upon  them.  Once  more  Mr.  Rob- 
ertson met  them  with  the  same  calm  words, 
and  once  more  they  gave  up  their  purpose  and 
went  meekly  home.  Over  and  over  did  they 
go  through  this  performance,  but  at  last  they 
seemed  to  tire  of  these  visits,  and  were  willing 
to  have  the  missionaries  among  them.  Mr.  Rob- 
ertson lived  with  them  for  a  year,  and  then  sum- 
moned the  chiefs  for  a  consultation. 

"  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  have  been  here  for  a 
good  while.  You  have  seen  that  I  am  your 
friend  and  that  I  have  tried  to  help  you.  If 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  143 

you  will  treat  me  well,  and  stop  trying  to  kill 
me,  I  will  stay  with  you  longer.  If  not,  I  will  go 
away  at  once.  You  must  decide  for  yourselves." 

The  chiefs  withdrew,  and  talked  the  matter 
over.  "  Let  us  kill  him  at  once,"  said  one,  "  and 
be  rid  of  him."  "  No,"  said  another,  "  let  him 
be  here  with  us ;  he  does  no  harm "  ;  and  so 
they  reasoned,  back  and  forth,  until  the  friendly 
party  carried  the  day,  and  word  was  sent  to  the 
missionaries  that  they  were  to  be  allowed  to  re- 
main. After  this  favor  on  their  part  the  natives 
seemed  to  lose  many  of  their  objections  to  the 
outsiders,  and  adopted  them  as  their  charge. 
They  began  to  listen  to  their  teaching,  too,  and 
love  and  devotion  were  not  without  their  reward. 

During  the  following  year  many  persons 
were  converted,  and  in  eleven  years  the  island 
was  won.  At  the  close  of  1882  five  hundred  Er- 
romangans  went  regularly  to  church,  and  one 
hundred  and  ninety  of  them  were  church-mem- 
bers. Then,  as  he  had  thirty-three  native  teach- 
ers to  carry  on  the  work  at  various  stations 
throughout  the  island,  Mr.  Robertson  felt  that 
he  might  go  home  for  a  visit.  As  he  was  about 
to  depart,  an  old  chief  lifted  a  little  child  in  his 
arms  and  said,  "  When  I  was  the  age  of  this 
baby  there  was  not  a  Christian  on  this  island. 
When  he  is  my  age,  there  will  not  be  one 
heathen." 


144  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

Perhaps  he  had  heard  of  Mr.  Geddie's  inscrip- 
tion at  Aneityum,  or  perhaps  the  facts  in  this 
case  were  as  plain  as  they  were  in  the  other,  so 
that  the  same  expression  came  naturally  into 
mind. 

In  1880  a  church  was  dedicated  at  Dillon's 
Bay,  not  far  from  the  spot  where  John  Williams 
fell.  It  was  called  "The  Martyrs'  Memorial 
Church."  Not  long  afterwards  the  natives  paid 
for  having  one  thousand  copies  of  the  "  Acts  of 
the  Apostles"  printed  and  gave  generously  to 
the  fund  for  publishing  the  four  Gospels,  design- 
ed for  circulation  among  the  people.  There  are 
now  about  twenty -five  hundred  Christians  on  the 
island,  in  thirty-four  villages.  There  are  schools 
and  teachers  in  every  part,  and  church  services 
are  held  every  Wednesday  and  Sunday. 

In  the  Memorial  Church  may  be  seen  the 
following  inscription : 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Christian  mis- 
sionaries who  died  on  this  island  : 

JOHN  WILLIAMS, 
JAMES  HARRIS, 

Killed  at  Dillon's  Bay  by  the  natives, 
3Oth  November,  1839. 

GEORGE  N.  GORDON, 
ELLEN  C.  GORDON, 

Killed  on  the  20th  of  May,  1861. 


THE  NEW  HEBRIDES.  14$ 

JAMES  MACNAIR, 

Who  died  at  Dillon's  Bay,  i6th  July,  1870; 

and 
JAMES  D.  GORDON, 

Killed  at  Portinia  Bay,  7th  March,  1872. 

They  hazarded  their  lives  for  the  sake  of  the 
Lord  Jesus. 

In  1889,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  death 
of  John  Williams,  a  monument  was  erected  at 
Erromanga.  The  man  who  laid  its  corner-stone 
was  the  son  of  his  murderer,  and  another  son  of 
this  same  savage  was  at  the  time  preaching  the 
gospel  in  Australia. 


Htroea  of  the  South  Seas. 


146  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 


CHAPTER   XL 

THE  NEW  HEBRIDES  :  THE  MAN  WHO  DUG 
THE  WELL. 

ABOUT  ten  years  after  John  Geddie  went  to 
Aneityum,  and  shortly  after  George  Gordon  had 
made  an  attack  on  Erromanga,  that  man  who 
has  become  so  famous  among  missionary  heroes, 
Dr.  John  G.  Paton,  fell  into  the  same  line  of 
work  at  Tarma. 

There  is  a  volcano  on  Tanna  which  gives 
the  island  the  name  of  the  "  Lighthouse  of  the 
South  Pacific,"  but  we  know  very  well  that 
Tanna  was  not  a  light  in  the  way  of  morals  or 
of  manners.  Dark,  very  dark,  was  it  in  Tanna 
in  those  respects,  and  every  spark  of  the  gospel 
glow  had  been  dashed  out  just  as  soon  as  it  had 
been  kindled. 

But  John  Paton  was  willing  to  give  Tanna 
another  trial. 

He  was  another  one  who  had  made  up  his 
mind  when  he  was  a  little  boy  that  he  would  be 
a  missionary  so  soon  as  he  was  old  enough ;  and 
his  home  in  Scotland,  where  he  grew  up  under 
the  care  of  one  of  the  wisest  and  best  fathers 
and  one  of  the  loveliest  mothers  that  ever 
lived,  must  have  been  just  the  sort  of  place 


THE    NKW    HEBRIDES.  147 

from  which  to  send  out  a  good  missionary.  He 
must  have  drunk  in  high  thoughts  and  aims 
with  the  mountain  air  and  learned  patience  and 
steadfastness  from  the  hills,  while  from  his 
father  and  mother  he  gained  much  of  his  simple 
trust,  his  industry  and  thrift,  his  courage  and 
his  hardihood,  as  well  as  his  bright,  hopeful 
disposition  and  kind,  warm  heart.  Yet  from 
all  the  beauty  of  his  native  land,  and  from  all 
the  home  ties  and  associations,  he  turned  away 
to  cast  in  his  lot  among  the  savages  of  Tanna. 

He  found  the  people  cannibals,  like  all  the 
natives  of  the  New  Hebrides.  They  lived  in 
poor  little  huts,  the  men  spending  their  time  in 
fighting  while  the  women  did  the  work.  They 
had  many  idols  and  worshipped  almost  every- 
thing, after  the  way  of  their  neighbors. 

They  allowed  Mr.  Paton  and  his  companions 
to  stay  with  them  because  they  thought  that 
they  would  give  them  axes  and  fish-hooks,  and 
making  the  most  of  this  permission  Mr.  Paton 
tried  to  become  acquainted  with  them,  and  to 
learn  their  language  while  he  was  working  his 
way  into  their  lives.  One  day  he  noticed  that  a 
man  picked  up  some  object  that  was  new  to 
him  and  said,  inquiringly,  "  Nunski  nari  enu?" 
That  must  mean,  "  What  is  it?"  thought  Mr.  Pa- 
ton,  quickly,  and  then  he  put  his  lesson  into 
practice.  He  caught  up  some  article  and  hold- 


148  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

ing  it  out  towards  a  savage  he  smiled  and  asked  ; 
"  Nunski  nari  enu  ?"  The  native  at  once  replied 
with  the  name  of  the  thing  that  Mr.  Paton  had 
in  his  hand,  and  from  that  time  "  Nunski  nari 
enu?"  brought  the  missionary  a  good  deal  of  in- 
formation. 

Next  he  laid  hold  of  the  children  and  taught 
them  to  sing.  The  music  pleased  the  older  peo- 
ple so  much  that  they  wished  to  learn  how  to 
make  it  too,  so  Mr.  Paton  had  a  singing-class  of 
men  and  women.  By  means  of  the  hymns  he 
was  able  to  put  into  their  minds  ideas  that  would 
have  been  difficult  for  them  to  grasp  in  any 
other  way.  The  first  hymn  that  he  gave  them 
spoke  of  God  the  Father,  the  second  one  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  third  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and 
when  they  were  curious  about  the  meaning  of 
what  they  were  singing  he  would  explain  to 
them,  as  simply  as  he  could,  as  much  Bible 
truth  as  they  could  understand. 

But  they  were  just  as  superstitious  and  as 
suspicious  as  the  people  of  Aneityum,  and  when 
the  rain  came  when  it  was  not  wished,  or  failed 
to  appear  when  they  thought  that  it  should,  it 
was  all  the  fault  of  the  missionary  and  his 
friends.  "  Missi,"  they  called  him,  in  their  child- 
like fashion,  and  "  Missi  "  was  to  them  a  wonder- 
ful being.  When  they  laid  plans  to  kill  him  he 
seemed  to  know  it,  and  to  be  prepared  for  them. 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  149 

"  How  can  you  tell,  Missi,  what  we  mean  to 
do  to  you  ?"  they  would  ask,  innocently. 

"Oh,  a  little  bird  whispers  it  to  me,"  he  would 
answer,  with  a  smile. 

"  What  kind  of  a  bird  is  it,  Missi  ?"  they 
would  go  on,  still  more  puzzled  than  ever. 

But  Mr.  Paton  would  only  smile  again,  and 
leave  them  to  guess  that  the  bird  was  one  of  the 
children  of  whom  he  was  so  fond,  and  who  loved 
him  in  return. 

He  did  gain  some  influence  over  the  older 
people  too  after  a  while.  They  were  afraid  of 
him,  and  were  often  so  angry  with  him  that  they 
would  gladly  have  murdered  him,  but  he  inter- 
ested them,  and  they  could  not  fail  to  respect 
him  and  to  enjoy  his  kindness  and  his  help  in 
time  of  need.  He  often  broke  off  a  war  when 
they  were  bent  on  fighting,  and  at  one  time  ran 
into  the  midst  of  a  party  gathered  together  to 
talk  over  the  coming  battle,  and  called  out : 
"  My  love  to  all  you  men  of  Tanna !  Fear  not. 
I  am  your  friend.  I  have  come  to  tell  you  about 
Jehovah  God,  and  good  conduct  such  as  pleases 
him." 

One  of  the  men  led  him  to  a  seat  and  the 
savages  danced  about  him  like  madmen,  flour- 
ishing their  knives  and  clubs  in  a  frightful  man- 
ner ;  but  when  this  performance  was  over  they 
consented  to  hold  a  second  council  on  the  sub- 


150  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

ject  of  the  war,  and  finally  agreed  to  give  it  up 
for  the  time.  This  peace  lasted  for  four  months, 
and  Mr.  Paton  felt  that  they  had  really  made  a 
long  stride  in  the  progress  of  civilization  when 
they  could  lay  by  their  weapons  for  a  whole 
third  of  a  year. 

But  his  trials  were  by  no  means  over.  His 
wife  and  his  little  child  both  died,  and  his  own 
life  was  more  than  once  almost  brought  to  an 
end  by  an  axe  or  a  gun  in  savage  hands. 

Sometimes  a  friendly  native  would  interfere, 
sometimes  Mr.  Paton  himself  would  talk  to  the 
men  and  make  them  ashamed  of  their  evil  no- 
tions. Sometimes  they  felt  some  power  about 
him  that  filled  them  with  awe  and  held  them  in 
check.  Perhaps  they  had  a  dim  vision  of  the 
One  who  walked  with  the  three  men  in  the  fiery 
furnace ;  for  Mr.  Paton  said  of  himself  :  "  I  had 
my  nearest  and  dearest  glimpses  of  the  face  and 
smile  of  my  blessed  Lord  in  those  dread  mo- 
ments when  musket,  club  or  spear  was  levelled 
at  my  life."  He  felt  that  he  must  have  a  church, 
and  built  one,  largely  by  the  labor  of  his  own 
hands.  The  wood  came  from  Aneityum,  and 
was  paid  for  by  fifty  pairs  of  trousers,  sent  to 
him  for  the  purpose  by  his  old  mission-class  in 
Glasgow. 

Only  five  men,  three  women  and  three  chil- 
dren came  to  the  first  service  after  the  church 


THE  NEW   HEBRIDES.  151 

was  ready,  but  that  made  a  beginning,  and  that 
afternoon  Mr.  Paton  visited  ten  villages  and 
preached  in  each  one.  A  great  deal  of  his  time 
was  spent  in  caring  for  the  sick,  and  he  was  both 
doctor  and  nurse. 

At  last  six  stations  were  established  along  the 
coast  and  placed  under  the  care  of  teachers  from 
Aneityum.  But  as  the  consciences  of  the  peo- 
ple awoke  they  became  uneasy,  and  were  sorry 
that  these  strangers  had  come  to  spoil  all  the 
good,  old  comfortable  easy  times.  Then,  sad  to 
say,  a  trading- vessel  came  to  the  island  and  blew 
all  the  little  flames  of  discontent  into  a  great 
blaze. 

"  The  only  way  to  deal  with  these  savages," 
said  the  savages  of  the  trading-ship,  "  is  to  sweep 
them  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  We  will  man- 
age them  for  you,"  and  then  they  put  on  shore 
several  men  who  had  the  measles,  and  left  them 
to  scatter  the  disease.  It  spread  like  fire  over 
the  island  and  the  natives  fell  rapidly  before  it. 
Thirteen  persons  from  the  mission  party  also 
died. 

The  people  were  roused  to  fury.  They  did 
not  stop  to  think  that  the  missionaries  had  suf- 
fered as  well  as  themselves.  They  were  full 
of  hatred  for  all  white  men,  and  they  would 
destroy  any  upon  whom  they  could  lay  hands. 
To  add  to  the  commotion  a  hurricane  tore  over 


152  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

the  island,  and  now  the  natives  knew  that  the 
gods  were  surely  angry,  and  would  have  the 
visitors  at  Tanna  removed  without  delay. 

One  chief,  whose  name  was  Nowar,  stood 
by  Mr.  Paton,  but  everybody  else  had  turned 
against  him.  Everything  was  forgotten  except 
that  he  belonged  to  the  wicked  race  of  white 
men,  and  time  after  time  was  he  attacked. 
Every  night  bands  of  men  prowled  round  the 
house,  and  Mr.  Paton  and  his  fellow-worker  had 
to  sleep  with  their  clothes  on,  in  readiness  for  a 
sudden  flight. 

They  stuck  to  their  post  so  long  as  there 
was  a  shadow  of  hope  of  doing  any  good  there, 
but  at  last  they  were  forced  to  believe  that  the 
work  must  be  given  up  at  Tanna  for  the  present. 
One  night,  with  nothing  but  their  Bibles,  their 
Tannese  translations  and  a  pair  of  blankets 
they  slipped  away,  and  after  many  adventures 
and  hairbreadth  escapes  they  reached  the  vil- 
lage of  Nowar,  on  another  part  of  the  island. 

Here  they  found  the  people  in  a  state  of 
terrible  excitement.  Crowds  of  armed  men 
were  seen  bearing  down  upon  them  from  every 
direction.  They  begged  Mr.  Paton  to  begin  to 
pray  for  them  as  hard  as  he  could,  for  they  felt 
that  they  were  lost.  In  his  usual  unruffled 
manner  the  good  missionary  turned,  like  a  little 
child,  to  his  Father,  and  asked  for  help.  The 


THE   NEW   HEBRIDES.  153 

savages  were  still  pressing  forward.  On  they 
came,  until  they  were  about  three  hundred  yards 
away,  when  suddenly,  and  with  no  apparent 
reason,  they  wheeled  round  and  walked  off  to 
their  own  village. 

Two  days  Mr.  Paton  stayed  with  Nowar,  but 
then  even  Nowar  was  afraid  to  have  him  longer 
in  the  house,  so  the  next  night  the  hunted  man 
had  to  go  out  and  climb  into  the  arms  of  a  tall 
chestnut-tree  and  there  he  spent  the  long  hours 
until  morning.  All  the  time  he  could  hear  be- 
low him  the  cries  of  the  savages  and  the  pop- 
ping of  their  muskets. 

The  following  day  Mr.  Paton  had  another 
exciting  journey,  going  this  time  to  Mr.  Mathe- 
son's  station  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  island. 
Here  he  waited  ten  days,  hoping  that  a  vessel 
might  come  and  take  him  away  One  night 
he  awoke  to  find  the  church  on  fire,  and  he  saw, 
too,  that  the  fence  that  connected  it  with  the 
house  was  also  in  a  blaze.  He  ran  out  and  cut 
down  one  end  of  the  fence,  but  then  the  natives 
were  upon  him.  "Kill  him!  kill  him!"  they 
shrieked. 

But  just  then  there  was  a  rumbling  sound 
from  the  south.  A  hurricane  was  coming !  The 
savages  took  fright  at  once. 

"  It  is  Jehovah's  rain,"  they  cried,  and  fled 
like  dry  leaves  before  the  wind. 


154  HEROES   OF  THE   SOl;TH   SEAS. 

The  next  morning  a  ship  from  Aneityum 
touched  at  the  island,  and  bore  all  the  mission- 
aries away. 

Mr.  Paton  went  to  Australia  and  to  England 
and  Scotland,  and  told  about  the  work  that  must 
be  done  in  the  New  Hebrides,  ungrateful  and 
unpromising  though  the  people  were.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  money  enough  to  buy  a  mis- 
sion-boat, most  of  it  coming  from  children  in 
Sunday-schools.  The  children's  boat  it  was,  that 
"white-winged  angel,"  as  Mr.  Paton  called  the 
beautiful  little  vessel  that  had  been  named  the 
Dayspring,  and  when  it  began  to  cruise  among 
the  islands  the  natives  were  filled  with  surprise. 
"Why,  how  is  this?"  they  cried.  "We  have 
killed  some  of  the  missionaries  and  driven  the 
others  away.  If  we  had  been  treated  so  nothing 
could  bring  any  of  us  back.  And  is  it  to  trade 
or  get  money,  like  other  white  men  ?  No,  but  it 
is  to  tell  us  of  their  Jehovah  God,  and  of  his 
Son,  Jesus.  If  their  God  makes  them  do  all 
that  we  may  well  worship  him  too." 

Mr.  Paton  and  his  new  wife  settled  at  Aniwa, 
a  small  island  about  nine  miles  long  and  three 
and  a  half  miles  wide.  The  language  was  not 
the  same  as  that  of  Tanna,  so  he  had  to  go  to 
studying  again.  His  experiences  were  much  the 
same  at  first  as  those  that  had  been  met  on  the 
other  island.  The  natives  blamed  the  missiona- 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  155 

ries  for  all  their  misfortunes,  and  thought  that 
the  gods  would  like  to  have  them  put  out  of  the 
way.  He  visited  many  of  the  villages,  and  at 
the  risk  of  his  life  he  told  the  people  the  story  of 
God's  love.  Sometimes  he  could  protect  himself 
only  by  running  straight  into  the  arms  of  some 
cannibal,  and  by  clinging  tightly  around  him 
keep  him  from  lifting  his  hand  to  strike  with  his 
club  or  to  fire  with  his  gun.  Sometimes  he 
would  knock  up  the  barrel  of  the  musket  pointed 
at  him,  and  send  the  bullet  in  another  direction. 
An  old  chief,  Namakei,  was  converted,  and 
he  was  a  great  help  to  the  missionaries.  He 
brought  his  daughter  to  be  taught,  and  that  was 
the  beginning  of  a  school  that  trained  many 
young  persons  for  service  among  their  fellow- 
men.  The  older  people  were  much  hurt  because 
they  received  no  rewards  for  going  to  church, 
and  because  the  missionaries  would  not  buy 
their  idols  from  them,  so  they  tried  to  revenge 
themselves  in  various  ways.  One  night  the  old 
chief,  Namakei,  came  running  into  the  mission- 
aries' house,  crying,  "  Rise,  Missi,  and  help !  The 
heathen  are  trying  to  burn  your  house.  All 
night  we  have  tried  to  keep  them  off,  but  they 
are  many,  and  we  are  few.  Rise  quickly,  and 
set  a  lamp  in  every  window.  Let  us  pray  to  Je- 
hovah, and  talk  loud,  as  if  we  were  many.  God 
will  make  us  strong." 


156  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

The  woods  were  full  of  savages  with  lighted 
torches,  but  near  the  house  the  teachers  and 
some  friendly  natives  were  keeping  watch  with 
buckets  of  water,  ready  to  put  out  the  fire  should 
one  be  started.  No  harm  was  done,  however, 
and  when  the  day  dawned  the  enemy  slunk 
away. 

There  is  little  rain  on  the  island  of  Aniwa* 
and  all  that  falls  soon  sinks  into  the  soil.  There 
was  one  place  called  the  "  public  water-hole," 
which  was  on  the  ground  of  some  of  the  "  sacred 
men,"  and  which  was  filled  by  the  rain.  But 
these  men  pretended  that  they  had  the  manage- 
ment of  the  weather,  and  would  promise  to 
bring  a  supply  of  water  only  when  they  were 
bribed  with  presents.  So,  of  course,  there  was 
much  suffering  among  the  people  for  lack  of 
good  water. 

Mr.  Paton  said  that  he  meant  to  have  a  well 
of  his  own,  from  which  anybody  might  help 
himself,  but  the  people  laughed  at  his  idea. 
How  could  he  bring  rain  up  out  of  the  ground  ? 
Rain  came  from  above,  they  said.  But  Mr.  Pa- 
ton  went  to  work  to  dig.  He  coaxed  the  natives 
to  help  him  by  paying  them  with  fish-hooks,  but 
they  became  frightened,  when  one  side  of  the 
hole  caved  in,  and  no  more  of  that  kind  of  work 
would  they  do.  The  gods  were  angry  with  them, 
they  thought ;  but  Mr.  Paton  toiled  on  alone. 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  !$/ 

They  begged  him  to  give  up  the  job.  "  If  you 
do  reach  water,"  said  they,  "  you  will  fall  through 
into  the  sea,  and  the  sharks  will  eat  you.  We 
wonder  what  will  be  the  end  of  this  mad  work  !" 

Still  he  dug  away.  The  coral  and  earth  were 
becoming  damp.  His  hopes  rose  as  his  hole 
grew  deeper.  "  I  think  God  will  give  us  water 
to-morrow,"  he  said,  one  night. 

Early  the  next  morning  he  went  down  into 
his  well  and  sank  a  small  hole  in  the  bottom. 
The  water  rushed  in  and  overflowed  it  in  a  mo- 
ment. He  was  so  happy  that  he  could  hardly 
steady  his  hand  while  he  tasted  it  from  a  cup 
that  he  had  taken  with  him,  but  he  eagerly 
sipped  the  water  himself,  and  then,  filling  a  jug 
that  he  had  brought  down  empty,  he  carried  it 
to  the  top  of  the  well  and  showed  it  to  the  na- 
tives. 

They  fell  back  in  wonder.  Yes.  It  certainly 
was  rain,  though  at  first  they  dared  not  touch  it. 
At  last  the  old  chief  ventured  to  shake  it,  to  see 
if  it  would  spill,  and  laid  his  finger  upon  it,  to 
learn  if  it  felt  like  real  water.  Then  he  took 
some  into  his  mouth  and  rolled  it  round  there, 
finally  letting  it  slip  down  his  throat,  and  then 
shouting,  "  Rain  !  rain  !  Yes,  it  is  rain  !" 

Then  all  the  men  had  to  peer  down  the  well, 
and  they  were  all  "  weak  with  wonder,"  as  they 
said,  at  this  marvellous  event.  They  were  ready 


158  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

then  to  help  to  bring  blocks  of  coral  with  which 
to  build  a  wall  from  top  to  bottom  of  this  well 
that  had  brought  them  rain  from  under  the 
ground. 

The  next  Sunday  Namakei  preached  a  ser- 
mon in  which  he  told  the  people  that  the  "  in- 
visible Jehovah  God "  was  the  only  God,  and 
they  must  throw  away  their  idols  and  worship 
him.  He  had  not  only  sent  them  rain  from  the 
earth,  but  had  given  his  Son  from  heaven  to  die 
for  them.  That  same  day  many  idols  were 
brought  to  Mr.  Paton,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks  many  more  were  piled  at  his  door,  and 
they  were  then  burned.  Then  the  people  began 
to  wear  the  clothing  of  white  men  and  women, 
to  go  to  church  regularly,  and  to  keep  Sunday. 
Mr.  Paton  had  a  book  printed  for  them  and  they 
were  amazed  to  think  that  he  could  "  make  a 
book  speak."  They  were  still  more  overcome 
when  he  began  to  teach  them  how  to  make  it 
speak  to  them  also. 

Next,  they  united  in  building  a  little  church. 
It  was  a  queer  little  church,  made  of  coral  and 
sugar-cane,  with  mats  on  the  floors  for  seats  ;  but 
it  was  just  as  good  for  their  purposes.  They 
were  used  to  sitting  on  the  ground. 

Old  Namakei  devoted  himself  to  the  work  of 
helping  the  missionaries,  and  when  he  heard 
how  the  gospel  tidings  were  spreading  he  would 


THE    NEW    HEBRIDES.  159 

say,  "  Missi,  I  am  lifting  up  my  head  like  a  tree  ; 
I  am  growing  tall  with  joy."  When  he  died  his 
daughter  said  that  he  had  been  among  all  the 
people  and  had  charged  them  to  be  true  to  the 
missionaries  and  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  that 
they  had  promised  to  try  to  obey  his  words. 

After  three  years  of  labor  the  first  commu- 
nion service  was  held  in  the  little  church.  It 
was  a  happy  moment  for  the  brave,  loving  heart 
that  had  worked  and  waited  so  long  ;  when  the 
dark  hands  were  stretched  out  for  the  bread  and 
wine  of  the  Lord's  supper  it  was  well-nigh  broken 
with  bliss. 

Then  schools  were  established  in  various 
parts  of  the  island.  These  schools  had  to  be 
opened  at  daybreak,  so  that  the  men  and  women 
might  study  their  lessons  before  going  out  to 
their  day's  work.  Teachers  were  trained,  and 
the  people  were  taught  to  do  many  useful  things. 
The  Bible  was  translated  and  copies  were  given 
out.  Now  there  are  thirty-five  hundred  Chris- 
tians on  Aniwaand  two  hundred  native  teachers. 
Missionaries  are  no  longer  needed  there. 

Mr.  Paton  has  said  that  it  has  been  estimated 
that  one  soul  has  been  saved  for  every  five  dol- 
lars spent  in  the  work  of  the  New  Hebrides,  and 
Mrs.  Paton  says  that  it  is  worth  laboring  a  life- 
time to  witness  the  change  that  comes  over  any 
one  of  these  people,  even  in  the  expression  of  the 


l6o  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH  SEAS. 

face,  when  transformed  from  a  savage  into  a 
Christian. 

Tanna,  too,  is  reaching  out  her  hands  towards 
the  light.  The  natives  who  had  been  converted 
there  were  joined  afterwards  by  other  teachers, 
and  through  their  efforts  about  fourteen  hun- 
dred Christians  have  been  gained  even  in  Tan- 
na. The  best  of  it  is  that  every  convert  is  a 
missionary,  so  the  work  will  go  on. 

On  a  small  deserted  island  near  Tanna  Mr. 
Paton  found  on  a  recent  visit  that  the  people 
were  trying  to  keep  Sunday,  though  no  mission- 
ary  had  been  near  them.  Two  old  men  kept 
track  of  the  days,  and  on  the  first  day  of  each 
week  they  would  lay  aside  their  ordinary  occu- 
pations and  each  one  would  put  on  a  calico  shirt 
that  he  had,  and  then,  calling  the  people  round 
them,  they  would  tell  them  as  much  as  they 
knew  of  the  gospel  story.  Upon  inquiry  Dr. 
Paton  discovered  that,  thirty-three  years  before, 
he  had  stopped  at  this  island  for  a  week  or  so, 
and  at  that  time  had  taught  some  of  the  people 
a  little  of  the  Bible  and  given  out  two  calico 
shirts.  Through  all  these  long  years  these  two 
men  had  cherished  these  bits  of  knowledge  and 
carefully  kept  the  shirts,  wearing  them  only  once 
in  seven  days  in  order  to  be  able  to  make  some 
difference  between  Sunday  and  the  rest  of  the 
week.  They  further  observed  the  day  by  doing 


THE   NEW    HEBRIDES.  l6l 

the  only  other  thing  that  seemed  to  them  to  be- 
long to  the  occasion — sharing  with  others  their 
own  scanty  portion  of  truth. 

On  Tonga,  the  Rev.  Oscar  Michelson  toiled 
alone  for  twelve  years  At  first  he  had  many 
perilous  adventures,  and  often  had  to  run  away 
and  hide  somewhere  in  order  to  save  his  life, 
but  he  kept  at  work,  and  the  people  liked  him 
better  after  a  while.  His  home  they  called  the 
"  Sunday  House,"  and  they  began  to  gather  there 
to  hear  the  music,  and  learned  to  sing  some 
Christian  hymns.  Then  the  work  grew,  and  all 
over  the  island  the  good  news  was  told.  Now 
there  are  thirty  Christian  teachers  settled  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  island,  and  Mr.  Michelson's 
field  includes  three  islands  besides  his  own.  At 
one  meeting  lately  three  hundred  persons  rose 
for  prayer.  The  people  of  Tonga  are  now  so  hon- 
est that  if  one  of  them  should  find  a  coin  on  the 
road  he  would  stick  it  up  in  some  conspicuous 
place  and  there  it  would  stay  until  the  rightful 
owner  should  come  along. 

Fortuna  was  converted  through  the  work  of 
teachers  from  Aneityum.  Some  of  the  medicine 
men  here  when  they  became  Christians  brought 
their  sacred  stones,  which  they  value  above  their 
lives,  and  burned  them  in  the  public  square. 
Last  year  nine  casks  of  arrowroot  were  sent  to 
Edinburgh  by  the  people  of  Aneityum,  and 

Htro«3  of  the  South  Seas.  I  I 


162  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

three  casks  by  the  Christians  in  Fortuna.  The 
latter  contribution  was  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
building  the  first  church  in  Fortuna.  These 
people  were  so  hungry  for  Bibles  that  they  were 
willing  to  buy  them  at  the  rate  of  $2  a  leaf. 

Efate,  Malo  and  Nguna  all  have  missionaries 
now,  and  a  new  mission  has  been  started  on  the 
largest  island,  Espirito  Santo.  The  second  Day- 
spring  has  been  sold  and  a  small  steamer  has 
been  provided  in  its  place.  About  twenty 
islands  are  now  occupied,  and  there  are  about 
fourteen  thousand  converts  altogether.  Por- 
tions of  the  Bible  have  been  translated  into  fif- 
teen distinct  languages.  There  are  about  forty 
thousand  cannibals  in  the  New  Hebrides  that 
are  still  unreached,  and  for  these  Dr.  Paton  asks 
the  prayers  and  the  aid  of  Christians  all  over  the 
world.  He  is  anxious,  too,  to  gain  the  sympathy 
and  the  help  of  the  Christian  nations  in  putting 
down  the  slave-trade  in  these  islands,  and  in 
forbidding  the  bringing  in  by  traders  of  rum, 
opium  and  fire-arms.  These  things  are  doing 
untold  harm  among  the  natives. 

Dr.  Paton  has  been  able  to  devote  the  sum 
of  $25,000  to  his  work  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
book  in  which  he  has  told  the  story  of  his  life,  and 
he  has  lived  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  one  of 
his  sons  go  back  as  a  missionary  to  the  New  Heb- 
rides, and  another  one  is  making  ready  to  go. 


THE  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  163 


CHAPTER    XII  . 

THE   SANDWICH   ISLANDS  :    A   COUNTRY   OPENED 
BY   A    BOY. 

THE  Sandwich  Islands  and  Micronesia  cannot 
be  said  to  belong  to  the  islands  of  the  South 
Seas,  as  they  lie  north  of  the  Equator,  but  they 
do  make  part  of  what  is  known  as  Polynesia,  so 
their  story  is  properly  included  with  the  other 
groups  of  that  division. 

The  Sandwich  Islands  were  named  in  1778, 
by  Capt.  Cook,  in  honor  of  the  Earl  of  Sandwich. 
There  are  ten  of  these  islands,  of  which  Hawaii 
is  generally  said  to  be  the  largest.  It  is,  at  least, 
the  one  of  which  we  generally  hear  the  most, 
and  it  now  gives  its  name  to  the  whole  group. 

About  seventy  years  ago  the  inhabitants  of 
these  islands  were  savages  and  idolaters,  and 
were  wild,  rough,  and  ignorant.  All  that  they 
knew  about  civilization  was  what  they  had 
learned  from  the  sailors  on  the  ships  that  came 
occasionally  to  these  shores.  Their  homes  were 
grass  huts,  in  which  the  natives  and  the  animals 
lived  together,  and  where  the  pig  was  an  impor- 
tant member  of  the  family. 

Their  religion  was  a  mass  of  superstition. 


164  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

Their  idols  were  among  the  most  hideous  ever 
formed,  and  they  had  so  many  queer  notions 
about  everything  that  they  could  have  found 
little  comfort  or  pleasure  in  living.  They  be- 
lieved that  certain  places  or  objects  were  sacred, 
or  "  tabu,"  as  they  said  ;  and  if  anybody  should 
break  any  of  the  rules  of  "  tabu  "  he  was  at  once 
put  to  death.  Some  kinds  of  fish  might  be  eaten 
by  men,  but  were  thought  to  be  too  good  for 
women.  A  man  was  not  allowed  to  eat  with  his 
wife,  or  a  mother  with  her  son ;  and  the  poor 
natives  had  an  idea  that  the  gods  were  so  par- 
ticular about  such  matters  that  if  any  offense 
were  not  speedily  punished  they  would  take  the 
case  into  their  own  hands,  and  send  to  the  whole 
group  of  islands  some  great  calamity. 

On  the  island  of  Hawaii  is  Kilauea,  the  larg- 
est volcano  on  earth.  The  crater  is  nine  miles 
round,  and  one  thousand  feet  deep.  It  is  on  the 
flank  of  the  mountain  of  Mauna  Loa,  at  an  ele- 
vation of  four  thousand  feet.  In  this  volcano, 
the  people  of  the  island  believed,  lived  Pele, 
the  goddess  of  fire.  The  old  stories  said  that 
she  had  made  her  home  on  one  island  after  an- 
other, from  each  of  which  she  had  been  driven 
by  the  water-god,  Kamapuaa,  who  had  the  body 
of  a  man  and  the  head  of  a  pig.  At  last  she 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  volcano  of  Kilauea,  and 
whenever  she  was  angry  she  would  turn  into  a 


THE   SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  165 

flow  of  lava  and  rush  down  upon  the  people,  or 
throw  over  masses  of  hot  rocks,  and  so  overcome 
her  enemies.  The  lava  surrounding  the  crater 
is  blown  by  the  wind  out  into  fine  strands,  which 
the  natives  called  "  Pele's  hair,"  and  looked 
upon  with  reverence.  Everybody  stood  in  awe 
of  Pele,  and  on  her  ground  the  "tabu"  was 
more  strictly  kept  than  anywhere  else. 

About  the  year  1809  a  sea-captain,  stopping 
at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  found  a  boy  about  four- 
teen years  of  age  whose  name  was  Obookiah. 
His  father  and  mother  had  been  killed  in  one  of 
the  native  wars,  and  as  he  was  lonely  and  sad 
he  gladly  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  captain 
to  go  back  with  him  to  America.  The  boy  was 
ignorant,  clumsy,  and  awkward,  and  had  little 
about  him  that  was  bright  or  attractive  in  any 
way  ;  but  the  captain  took  him  to  his  own  home 
in  Boston  and  did  his  best  to  make  the  young 
stranger  happy.  But  Obookiah  seemed  not 
much  more  contented  than  when  in  his  native 
land.  The  new  country  and  the  new  life  awoke 
new  desires,  and  made  him  uneasy.  One  day  he 
was  found,  by  a  man  who  was  passing  by,  sitting 
on  the  steps  of  one  of  the  buildings  of  Yale  Col- 
lege crying  as  though  his  heart  would  break. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  my  lad  ?"  asked  the 
stranger,  pausing  in  surprise  and  sympathy. 
"Why  are  you  weeping  so  distressingly?" 


l66  HEROES   OF   THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

"  Because  there  is  n't  anybody  to  teach  me 
anything,"  whimpered  the  poor  boy,  rubbing  his 
eyes  to  drive  away  the  tears. 

"  Well,"  said  the  man,  who  had  a  kind  heart 
and  a  generous  spirit,  "come  along  with  me, 
and  we  '11  see  what  we  can  do  about  it."  And 
up  jumped  Obookiah,  and  followed  his  new 
friend  with  delight  and  confidence.  He  was 
placed  in  a  Christian  home  and  his  education 
was  begun  at  once.  He  studied  with  all  his 
might,  too,  in  order  to  make  up  for  lost  time.  A 
while  afterwards,  Samuel  Mills,  who  was  one  of 
the  young  men  who  had  been  present  at  the 
prayer-meeting  held  under  the  haystack  in  Wil- 
liamstown,  and  who,  like  the  others,  had  decided 
to  be  a  missionary,  fell  in  with  Obookiah,  and 
took  him  to  his  father's  house  in  Torringford, 
Connecticut.  There  he  learned  many  other 
things  besides  those  lessons  that  were  taught 
from  books.  A  little  later  he  wrote  a  letter  to  a 
friend  in  New  Haven  speaking  of  his  advan- 
tages. He  used  to  say  "  c-a-t  pig,"  he  wrote,  but 
now  he  could  spell  in  words  of  four  syllables, 
and  he  now  knew  the  "  chief  end  of  man,"  too. 
His  first  prayer  was  something  like  this :  "  Great 
and  eternal  God,  make  heaven,  make  earth,  make 
everything,  have  mercy  on  me  ;  make  me  un- 
derstand the  Bible ;  make  me  good ;  make  me 
go  back  Owhyee,  tell  folks  in  Owhyee  no  more 


THE   SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  l6/ 

pray  to  stone  god  ;  make  some  good  man  go  with 
me  to  Owhyee,  tell  folks  in  Owyhee  about  hea- 
ven. God,  make  all  people  good  everywhere." 

But  Obookiah  was  only  a  boy,  and  often  had 
feelings  that  were  not  quite  on  a  level  with  those 
of  his  best  moments.  He  owned  afterwards  that 
at  first  he  cared  more  about  having  religion  in 
his  head  than  in  his  heart,  and  he  made  this 
frank  little  confession  besides :  "  Sometimes," 
he  said,  "  when  good  people  talked  to  me  on  this 
subject,  I  was  but  just  hate  to  hear  it ;"  but  he 
did  not  stay  long  in  this  frame  of  mind,  and  soon 
could  say  truthfully,  "  I  cannot  help  think  about 
heaven.  I  go  in  a  meadow,  work  at  the  hay 
with  my  hands,  but  my  heart  no  there  :  in  hea- 
ven all  the  time.  Then  I  feel  very  happy." 

He  was  anxious  to  go  back  to  his  own  land, 
and  tell  his  people  about  God  and  about  Christ, 
so  he  worked  away  at  his  studies  with  that  end 
in  view.  With  the  help  of  a  friend  he  tried  to 
reduce  his  own  language  to  writing,  and  he  real- 
ly did  make  what  he  called  "  a  kind  of  spelling- 
book,  dictionary,  and  grammar." 

Obookiah  was  himself  one  of  the  best  proofs 
that  the  church  had  ever  had  as  to  the  value  of 
foreign  missions.  The  dull  look  went  out  of  his 
face,  which  became  bright  and  intelligent.  His 
awkwardness  all  disappeared,  and  his  manners 
became  refined  and  graceful.  In  1816  a  school 


l68  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

was  started  in  Cornwall,  Connecticut,  for  the 
purpose  of  educating  other  heathen  boys,  anc} 
turning  them  into  Christian  gentlemen  like 
Henry  Obookiah,  but  Obookiah  himself  never 
carried  the  gospel  to  his  countrymen,  although 
he  fitted  into  God's  plan  for  the  salvation  of 
the  Sandwich  Islands  just  as  truly  as  if  he 
had  done  as  he  hoped  to  do.  In  1819  he  died. 
"  God  will  do  right,"  he  said.  "  Let  God  do  as 
he  pleases." 

The  school  in  Cornwall  was  given  up  in  1826, 
as  it  was  found  wiser  to  educate  the  heathen  in 
their  own  countries,  but  Obookiah  had  pointed 
out  the  missionary  path  to  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
and  his  wishes  were  not  forgotten.  In  1820  two 
students  in  the  seminary  at  Andover,  named 
Hiram  Bingham  and  Asa  Thurston,  decided  to 
devote  themselves  to  this  work,  and  with  several 
other  volunteers  they  sailed  for  Hawaii.  The 
way  had  been  wonderfully  prepared  for  them. 

The  king,  Kamehameha,  had  become  sov- 
ereign of  all  the  islands,  so  they  were  now  under 
one  government  and  for  that  reason  would  be 
more  easily  reached.  Kamehameha  had,  be- 
sides, learned  a  little  about  the  Christian  re- 
ligion from  Captain  Vancouver,  who  had  visited 
the  islands  several  times,  and  the  ideas  of  all 
the  people  had  changed  in  many  points.  When 
they  saw  that  the  sailors  with  whom  they  were 


THE   SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  169 

thrown  could  do  without  harm  the  things  that 
they  had  never  dared  to  they  began  to  lose 
their  faith  in  their  system  of  "  tabu,"  and  to 
venture  to  break  through  its  laws  once  in  a 
while  themselves.  This  disbelief  grew  all  the 
time,  and  when  Kamehameha  was  about  to  die 
he  tried  to  gain  more  knowledge  about  the  true 
God  and  his  teachings  from  an  American  who 
was  then  at  Hawaii ;  but  this  American  was 
sadly  ignorant  on  the  subject  himself  and  could 
do  nothing  to  help  the  dying  king.  But  after 
Kamehameha's  death  his  wife,  Kaahumanu, 
whose  name  means  "  The  Feather  Mantle,"  de- 
clared that  there  was  no  truth  in  the  traditions 
about  "tabu,"  and  the  whole  system  was  swept 
from  the  island,  except  so  far  as  the  domains  of 
Pele  were  concerned,  who  was  as  much  an  ob- 
ject of  homage  as  ever.  Kaahumanu  also  per- 
suaded the  people  to  throw  away  their  idols,  and 
before  the  missionaries  landed  they  heard  that 
the  gods  of  stone,  that  Obookiah  had  prayed 
might  be  no  longer  worshipped,  were  indeed 
cast  aside. 

Captain  Vancouver  had  led  the  natives  to 
expect  that  men  would  come  from  England  to 
teach  them  of  a  new  religion,  so  they  were  not 
sure  that  these  teachers  from  America  would 
do  as  well.  However  the  missionaries  were 
at  last  allowed  to  come  on  shore ;  and  were 


HEROES   OF   THE    SOUTH    SEAS. 

told  that  they  might  stay.  They  stationed  them- 
selves upon  three  of  the  largest  islands,  and  be- 
gan work  by  starting  schools. 

Kaahumanu  was  regent  at  that  time,  and  at 
first  she  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  mis- 
sionaries ;  but  in  time  she  became  interested  in 
learning  to  read,  and  from  the  moment  when 
she  opened  a  book  she  threw  aside  her  cards 
and  her  old  amusements  and  devoted  herself  to 
study.  Before  long  she  was  truly  converted,  and 
then  she  gave  herself  to  the  work  of  missions, 
using  all  her  influence  on  the  side  of  the  teach- 
ers and  doing  all  she  could  to  help  them.  She 
opened  schools  in  various  places  and  herself 
travelled  round  the  islands  begging  people  to 
turn  from  their  idols  and  to  take  up  the  new 
and  better  faith  of  the  Christians. 

Kapiolani  was  another  important  woman  in 
Hawaii.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a  chieftain 
and  the  wife  of  a  man  who  was  for  a  time  gov- 
ernor of  Hawaii.  She  was  one  of  the  first  con- 
verts and  she  built  a  church  at  her  home,  near 
the  spot  where  Captain  Cook  had  been  mur- 
dered. Before  this  time  the  meetings  had  been 
held  under  the  open  sky.  As  Kapiolani  grew 
wiser  in  the  lessons  of  the  Bible  she  began  to 
feel  sure  that  the  superstition  about  Pele  was 
only  a  story,  like  all  the  other  old  tales,  and  she 
felt  that  it  was  time  that  it  was  outgrown.  She 


THE   SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  I/I 

made  up  her  mind  to  prove  her  belief  by  walk- 
ing over  the  mountain  and  showing  that  she 
could  come  back  uninjured.  Her  friends  to 
whom  she  confided  her  intention  begged  her 
not  to  be  so  rash  as  to  risk  her  life  in  so  danger- 
ous an  undertaking.  Crowds  of  men  and  women 
met  her  along  the  way  and  implored  her  to  go 
no  further,  but  with  her  little  New  Testament 
in  her  hand  she  pressed  cheerily  on.  "  If  I  am 
destroyed  you  may  all  believe  in  Pele,"  she  said. 

A  woman  who  claimed  to  be  a  prophetess 
of  the  goddess  stepped  out  upon  the  road  and 
warned  Kapiolani  not  to  go  near  the  mountain 
without  an  offering ;  but  out  came  the  Testa- 
ment then,  and  reading  her  answers  from  that 
the  brave  woman  still  kept  on  her  course. 

The  people,  though  alarmed  at  her  daring, 
were  really  too  curious  in  regard  to  her  fate  to 
let  her  go  out  of  their  sight,  so  about  eighty 
persons,  trembling  with  fear  and  excitement, 
followed  her  towards  the  mountain.  Straight 
up  its  side  she  went  and  walked  directly  to  the 
brink  of  the  crater,  calmly  nibbling  some  berries 
that  she  had  plucked  along  the  path,  which 
were  supposed  to  be  sacred  to  Pele.  Then  she 
carelessly  flung  stones  into  the  opening,  an 
action  that  was  said  to  be  especially  displeasing 
to  the  being  who  dwelt  in  the  burning  volcano. 
Still  nothing  unusual  happened.  The  mass  of 


1/2  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

fire  roared  and  swayed  before  the  people,  shoot- 
ing  flames  thirty  and  forty  feet  into  the  air, 
while  beneath  their  feet  were  loud  explosions 
and  the  earth  shook  around  them,  but  Kapio- 
lani  was  not  dismayed.  "  Jehovah  is  my  God," 
she  said,  quietly.  "  He  kindled  these  fires.  I 
fear  not  Pele.  Should  I  perish  by  her  anger 
then  you  may  fear  her  power;  but  if  Jehovah 
save  me  when  breaking-  her  '  tabus '  then  must 
you  fear  and  serve  Jehovah.  The  gods  of  Ha- 
waii  are  vain.  Great  is  the  goodness  of  Jehovah 
in  sending  missionaries  to  turn  us  from  these 
vanities  to  the  living  God." 

Then  Kapiolani  asked  that  a  Christian  hymn 
should  be  sung,  and  after  a  prayer  was  offered 
the  people  turned  and  went  wonderingly  home, 
and  the  power  of  Pele  was  broken  forever. 

Kapiolani  was  admired  and  honored  all  over 
the  kingdom.  A  visitor  to  the  islands  said  that 
she  was  so  intelligent,  so  amiable,  and  so  lady- 
like that  nobody  could  meet  her  without  feel- 
ing in  her  more  than  ordinary  interest.  When 
vshe  spoke  of  what  the  missionaries  had  done  for 
her  country  she  said  ;  "Our  happiness  is  the  joy 
of  a  captive  just  freed  from  prison ;"  but  when  she 
remembered  the  dreadful  things  that  were  once 
common  in  the  islands  she  could  not  help  think, 
ing,  "Oh,  why  didn't  the  missionaries  come 
sooner?" 


THE    SANDWICH    ISLANDS.  173 

From  this  time  the  blessed  work  went  rapid- 
ly on.  Within  ten  years  the  language  was  re- 
duced to  a  written  form,  parts  of  the  Bible  had 
been  translated,  and  the  printing-press  at  Hon- 
olulu was  throwing  off  hundreds  of  pages  of 
good  reading  matter.  Churches  were  built,  one 
of  which  held  three  thousand  persons,  and  there 
were  two  hundred  church  members.  In  1834 
the  first  newspaper  was  published. 

In  1835  the  Rev.  Titus  Coan  went  to  Hawaii 
and  was  stationed  at  Hilo,  where  about  one-third 
of  the  people  had  learned  to  read  and  a  church 
of  thirty-six  members  had  been  formed.  The 
first  year  he  made  circuit  of  the  island  by  canoe 
and  on  foot,  travelling  over  three  hundred  miles. 
He  always  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  visiting, 
and  he  trained  his  native  converts  to  go  out 
two  by  two,  on  this  sort  of  work,  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  disciples  long  ago.  They  climbed 
mountains,  went  through  forests,  and  crossed 
rivers,  sometimes  fording  the  streams,  some- 
times scrambling  over,  as  well  as  they  could, 
clinging  to  a  rope  fastened  to  the  shore,  to 
keep  themselves  from  floating  down  with  the 
rapid  current. 

After  several  of  these  tours  interest  began 
to  waken  all  over  the  island  and  crowds  flocked 
to  Hilo  to  hear  Mr.  Coan  preach.  In  1837  there 
was  a  wonderful  revival,  and  everybody,  from 


174  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

near  and  from  far,  came  to  listen  to  the  message 
of  the  gospel.  Even  sick  people  and  old  people 
and  lame  people  were  brought  on  litters  to  the 
services.  Throngs  gathered  from  all  the  villages, 
and  the  natives  put  up  shelters  in  which  to  live 
while  away  from  home.  The  cabins  were  thick 
in  every  direction  within  a  mile  of  the  mission, 
and  the  village  of  one  thousand  inhabitants 
swelled  suddenly  to  ten  thousand.  Meetings 
were  held  every  day  and  schools  were  opened  for 
the  children.  At  any  hour,  by  simply  ringing  a 
bell,  a  congregation  of  six  thousand  might  be 
gathered  in  a  moment.  Those  who  became 
Christians  showed  their  earnestness  by  trying 
to  set  right  that  which  had  been  wrong  in  their 
lives.  Stolen  things  were  given  back,  quarrels 
were  made  up,  lazy  folk  became  industrious, 
and  drunkards  stopped  drinking.  Within  three 
years  over  ten  thousand  converts  were  added  to 
the  number  of  Christians. 

A  missionary  who  went  to  Hawaii  in  1832  said 
later  that  at  his  first  service  he  had  a  congregation 
of  about  twelve  hundred  natives,  and  a  Sunday- 
school  of  about  seven  hundred  pupils.  These  peo- 
ple were  almost  all  of  them  clothed  in  the  native 
cloth  and  seated  on  the  ground.  The  meeting- 
house was  a  large  grass  building,  with  open  doors, 
a  rough  pulpit  and  one  window  behind  the  pulpit. 
In  1857  ne  kept  his  first  jubilee.  Then  there  was 


THE  SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  175 

a  pretty  church,  and  within  its  walls  were  gath- 
ered people  from  fifteen  out-districts,  all  dressed 
in  European  style.  In  1853  one-fourth  of  the 
population  belonged  to  the  various  churches. 

In  1862  the  real  mission  work  in  Hawaii  was 
over,  because  the  Sandwich  Islands  were  num- 
bered among  the  Christian  nations.  In  1873  the 
connection  of  the  islands  with  the  American 
Board  was  severed,  and  the  churches  became  in- 
dependent of  outside  aid  and  control.  Now  sixty 
per  cent,  of  the  population  will  be  found  to  be 
regular  attendants  at  church,  and  Hawaii  has  a 
congregation  numbering  four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred persons ;  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world. 

So  many  foreigners  have  come  to  live  in  the 
islands  that  missions  have  to  be  carried  on  for 
their  benefit.  Among  a  population  of  ninety- 
thousand,  fifty-five  thousand  people  are  from 
other  lands.  This  fact,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
recent  trouble  between  the  rulers  and  the  people 
and  the  still  unsettled  condition  of  the  govern- 
ment, has  done  much  to  hinder  the  growth  of 
true  religion,  and  to  arouse  the  old  heathen- 
ism and  wickedness  ;  but  the  native  Christian 
church  holds  on  its  way.  Thirty  per  cent,  of 
its  ministers  will  be  found  to  be  missionaries 
and  two  per  cent,  of  its  missionary  giving  may 
be  counted  on  for  foreign  countries.  The 
Hawaiian  children  are  early  taught  the  art  of 


176  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

giving.  The  mother  will  hold  her  baby's  hand, 
with  a  penny  in  its  grasp,  over  the  contribution- 
box  and  gently  shake  it  until  the  small  fist  un- 
closes and  the  money  falls  into  the  box.  Then 
she  kisses  and  pets  the  hand,  and  tries  the  plan 
again,  until  after  a  while  the  child  learns  to 
enjoy  the  performance,  and  thinks  of  giving  as 
a  pleasure. 

It  cost  $1,250,000  to  evangelize  Hawaii,  but 
during  the  fifty  years  of  work  in  the  islands 
that  nation  brought  into  our  country  $4,000,000 
in  trade. 

General  Armstrong,  who  was  so  long  the 
head  of  the  Industrial  School  at  Hampton,  Vir- 
ginia, and  who  was  the  son  of  a  missionary  in 
Hawaii,  has  said :  "  What  are  Christians  put  into 
the  world  for  except  to  do  the  impossible  in  the 
strength  of  God?" 

What  must  have  seemed  to  be  impossible 
had  in  the  strength  of  God  been  accomplished 
in  the  land  from  which  General  Armstrong 
came,  and  the  beginning  of  the  whole  matter 
was  so  small  a  thing  as  the  coming  of  a  heathen 
boy  to  America  so  long  ago. 

One  of  the  fields  of  the  mission  work  of  the 
converts  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  is  that  group 
of  which  we  have  heard  a  little  now  and  then 
as  we  have  voyaged  about  the  South  Seas — the 
Marquesas  Islands. 


THE   SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  177 

When  the  Duff  had  left  the  first  mission- 
aries  at  Tahiti,  in  1797,  it  passed  on  and  dropped 
two  teachers  on  these  islands.  The  Marquesas 
people  were  much  like  those  on  other  cannibal 
islands,  only  perhaps  they  were  more  wicked 
and  cruel  and  more  elaborately  tattooed  than 
many  other  tribes  in  the  Pacific.  They  were 
marked  with  figures  of  fishes,  lizards  and  stars, 
and  they  had  besides  added  to  the  beauty  of 
their  decorations  by  rubbing  themselves  with 
oil,  day  after  day,  until  some  of  the  older  ones 
had  taken  on  a  polish  like  that  on  old  furniture, 
and  beneath  this  covering  the  lines  of  the  tat- 
tooing might  be  traced  as  veins  and  marks  may 
be  seen  in  wood. 

They  were  also  given  to  the  use  of  orna- 
ments made  of  teeth  and  shells  and  feathers, 
and  some  of  them  wore  long  white  cloaks  that 
fell  from  their  shoulders  to  their  heels.  The 
other  garments  were  skirts  and  some  sort  of 
waists  formed  of  scarfs  flowing  across  the  chest. 
Their  cloth  is  made  from  the  inner  bark  of 
trees,  softened  in  water  and  pounded  by  a  mal- 
let into  a  soft  white  material. 

The  natives  are  divided  into  almost  number- 
less clans,  and  are  always  at  war  among  them- 
selves. The  first  teachers  did  not  stay  long 
with  them,  but  in  1825  some  others  came  to 
them  and  tried  to  settle  in  the  islands,  but  the 

Heroes  of  the  South  Seas. ;  I  2 


1/8  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

natives  threatened  to  kill  and  to  eat  them  if 
they  did  not  take  themselves  speedily  away, 
so  the  men  returned  to  Tahiti.  In  1832  three 
American  missionaries,  among  -whom  were  the 
father  and  mother  of  General  Armstrong,  had  a 
similar  experience,  and  the  mission  was  given 
up  altogether  for  a  while. 

But  in  1853  some  result  of  all  this  seed- 
sowing  began  to  appear.  A  chief  of  one  of  the 
islands  put  to  sea  in  a  whale-ship  and  came,  over 
one  thousand  miles,  to  the  Sandwich  Islands  to 
ask  that  a  missionary  might  be  sent  to  him  and 
his  friends.  "  We  have  nothing  but  war,  war, 
war,"  he  said ;  "and  fear,  trouble  and  poverty. 
We  are  tired  of  living  so,  and  wish  to  be  as  you 
are  here." 

The  churches  were  much  interested  in  this 
man  and  his  errand,  and  the  people  contributed 
willingly  to  the  expense  of  fitting  out  an  expedi- 
tion to  the  Marquesas  Islands.  On  the  sixteenth 
of  June  two  native  pastors  and  two  deacons, 
with  their  wives,  sailed  for  the  Marquesas  in  a 
brig  chartered  for  the  purpose  at  a  cost  of  $2,000. 
They  were  accompanied  by  a  white  missionary, 
who  would  help  them  in  starting  their  work 
and  then  come  home. 

They  were  joyfully  greeted  by  the  natives, 
but  the  French  were  jealous  of  this  intrusion 
into  what  they  called  their  territory,  and  com- 


THE   SANDWICH   ISLANDS.  179 

manded  the  chiefs  to  send  away  the  teachers. 
The  chiefs,  however,  refused  to  obey,  and  the 
Protestant  missionaries  were  soon  established 
in  a  house  owned  by  one  of  the  tribes,  and  the 
work  has  been  carried  on  in  spite  of  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  French  and  the  Romanists,  and 
through  many  difficulties  of  all  kinds.  The  na- 
tive teachers  have  proved  themselves  capable 
and  faithful,  and  have  won  honor  outside  of 
their  place  of  labor  as  well  as  within  it. 

Peruvian  pirates  had  carried  away  so  many 
of  the  people  for  slaves  that  the  savage  chief  of 
one  clan  vowed  that  he  would  kill  and  eat  the 
first  white  man  that  fell  in  his  way.  This  man 
happened  to  be  the  mate  of  an  American 
whaler ;  but  he  was  saved  from  the  horrible 
death  designed  for  him  by  the  gallantry  of  Ke- 
kela,  one  of  the  Hawaiian  teachers,  who  rescued 
him  by  offering  the  natives,  in  exchange  for 
their  victim,  a  six-oared  boat  just  received  from 
Boston. 

Abraham  Lincoln  heard  of  this  action,  and 
sent  Kekela  a  valuable  present  in  token  of  the 
gratitude  of  the  United  States.  In  his  note  of 
reply  Kekela  said  :  "  As  to  this  friendly  deed  of 
mine,  its  seed  was  brought  from  your  own  land 
by  some  of  your  own  people  who  had  received 
the  love  of  God.  It  was  planted  in  Hawaii,  and 
I  brought  it  here  that  these  dark  regions  might 


180  HEROES  OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

receive  the  root  of  all  which  is  good  and  true, 
and  that  is  all.  How  shall  I  repay  your  great 
kindness  ?  This  is  my  only  payment — that  which 
I  have  read  of  the  Lord — love." 

Could  anything  have  been  more  modestly 
and  more  gracefully  expressed  ? 

The  great  need  now  among  these  people  is 
an  increase  of  missionaries ;  but  that  spirit  of 
love  that  reigns  in  the  hearts  of  those  already  in 
the  field  will  surely  conquer  at  last,  even  in  the 
dark  regions  of  the  Marquesas. 


MICRONESIA.  l8l 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

MICRONESIA  :   THE   "  LITTLE   ISLANDS." 

THE  word  Micronesia  means  "  The  Little 
Islands."  The  clusters  that  bear  this  name  lie 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean  southwest  of  Hawaii.  The 
principal  groups  that  make  up  this  division  are 
the  Caroline,  Gilbert  or  Kingswell,  Marshall  and 
Ladrone  Islands ;  but  there  are  many  smaller 
circles  that  come  under  this  title,  too. 

Most  of  these  islands  are  low  and  barren, 
with  a  lagoon  in  the  centre.  They  rest  like 
green  rings  on  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  having 
no  hills  nor  streams,  few  land  birds,  and  no  flow- 
ers. No  horses,  cows  nor  sheep  can  live  on 
them  long,  and  on  one  island,  that  of  Apaiang, 
the  soil  is  so  poor  that  only  twenty-five  kinds  of 
growing  things  can  be  found  there,  including 
every  sort  of  shrub  and  weed.  Some  of  the 
islands,  however,  like  Ponape  and  Kusaie,  are 
volcanic,  and  have  mountains  two  or  three  thou- 
sand feet  high.  They  are  also  covered  with 
forests  which  are  filled  with  the  songs  of  birds 
of  gay  plumage,  that  make  the  woods  brilliant 
with  color.  The  trees  are  the  bread-fruit,  ba- 
nana, cocoanut,  lemon  and  orange,  with  a  great 


1 82  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

variety  of  timber  trees.  The  people  build  little 
reed  houses  under  them  and  plant  round  them 
bananas  and  yams,  training  the  vines  of  the 
latter  plant  upon  the  trees. 

The  people  of  Micronesia  are  of  two  kinds. 
Some  are  copper-colored  and  some  are  olive  in 
hue.  They  have  black  eyes  and  straight  black 
hair,  and  when  they  were  first  known  by  white 
men  many  of  them  were  frightfully  tattooed. 
Their  dress  was  different  in  the  different  islands. 
In  the  Marshall  group  the  costume  was  made  up 
of  two  mats  braided  by  hand  from  the  leaves  of 
the  pandanus  tree,  with  an  edge  embroidered 
with  bark  dyed  brown,  black  or  yellow,  and  put 
in  in  all  sorts  of  ingenious  patterns.  These  were 
worn  tied  round  the  waist  by  a  cord,  and  with 
the  man  the  skirt  was  made  to  stand  out  before 
and  behind  in  a  remarkable  manner.  The  men 
arranged  their  hair  on  the  top  of  the  head,  and 
all  the  natives  had  their  ears  pierced  early  in 
life,  and  then,  by  taking  first  small  sticks  and 
then  larger  ones  and  forcing  them  through  the 
opening,  the  hole  was  gradually  enlarged  until, 
in  some  cases,  a  man's  arm  might  be  thrust 
through  without  touching  the  flesh.  A  fash- 
ionable young  man  might  sometimes  have  been 
seen  with  an  enormous  cup  fastened  in  each  ear. 
In  the  Caroline  Islands  the  men  wore  cocoa- 
nut  trousers  and  a  skirt  of  deep  fringe.  This 


MICRONESIA.  183 

style  of  skirt  was  also  worn  by  the  women.  The 
men  were  fond  of  trinkets,  and  adorned  them- 
selves with  many  kinds  of  ornaments,  from 
wreaths  to  belts  and  necklaces.  As  they  had 
no  pockets  they  carried  their  pipes  in  their  ears. 
The  people  of  the  Gilbert  Islands  had  little 
clothing  of  any  sort. 

The  natives  of  these  islands  are  as  much  at 
home  in  the  water  as  on  the  land,  and  they  dive 
to  great  depths.  A  favorite  pastime  with  the 
boys  is  to  bend  a  tall,  slender  sapling  over  the 
water  in  such  a  way  that  when  they  have 
climbed  to  its  tip  they  will  be  flung  out  into 
the  waves.  They  also  find  great  amusement 
on  surf-boards,  with  which  they  ride  over  the 
waves  to  the  shore  with  ease  and  delight. 

The  islanders  had  no  meat  nor  milk,  and  their 
food  was  largely  obtained  from  the  cocoanut-tree. 
They  got  something  like  milk  from  the  grated 
meat  of  the  nut  and  this  was  used  in  many  ways 
in  preparing  their  meals.  The  sap  from  the  bud 
makes  a  pleasant  drink,  and  when  boiled  makes 
a  good  syrup.  If  allowed  to  ferment  it  supplies 
yeast  for  bread.  The  water  of  the  young  cocoa- 
nut  is  also  helpful  in  quenching  thirst.  When 
the  meat  of  the  nut  is  ripe  it  is  dried  and  sold  as 
food,  and  thus  it  serves  the  natives  as  money 
with  which  to  buy  articles  that  they  need.  They 
also  eat  the  fruit  of  the  pandanus  tree,  which, 


1 84  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

when  cooked,  is  almost  as  good  as  pumpkin.  It 
is  dried  and  kept  for  long  voyages  or  for  hard 
times.  Dishes  and  bottles  for  holding  water,  oil 
and  sap  were  formed  from  the  cocoanut  shells, 
and  now  from  the  fibre  of  the  husk  are  manu- 
factured cords,  ropes,  scrubbing-brushes  and 
door-mats.  The  cocoa  palm  gives  them  also 
timber  for  building  and  for  making  spears,  as 
well  as  oil,  and  material  for  torches,  fuel  and 
medicine.  It  grows  in  great  luxuriance  on  these 
islands.  The  fruit  has  a  peculiar  shape  that 
keeps  it  afloat  after  it  has  fallen  into  the  water, 
so  that  it  is  carried  all  over  the  South  Seas  and 
plants  its  seeds  on  many  shores.  The  bread- 
fruit also  is  a  valuable  tree,  and  is  of  great  ser- 
vice in  the  making  of  canoes,  some  of  which 
are  fifty  or  sixty  feet  long.  They  are  ingenious- 
ly put  together,  and  the  men  are  skilful  navi- 
gators. They  steer  without  chart  or  compass, 
and  are  guided  by  the  moon,  the  stars  and  the 
wave-lines. 

The  leaves  of  the  pandanus  are  as  useful  as 
the  fruit,  although  in  a  different  way.  From 
these  leaves  are  made  mats,  sails,  hats,  and  such 
things,  and  the  trunk  furnishes  strong  and  hard 
timber. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  islands  were  once 
all  wicked  and  ignorant  and  hard-hearted.  They 
were  thieves  and  liars,  and  were  cruel  to  women 


MICRONESIA.  185 

and  to  old  people.  They  believed  in  spirits,  and 
brought  offerings  to  stones  set  up  in  their  honor. 
Their  only  occupations  were  fishing  and  fight- 
ing. 

It  was  to  these  islands  that  there  came  in  the 
year  1852  three  American  missionaries,  sent  by 
the  American  Board,  bringing  with  them  their 
wives  and  two  native  teachers  from  the  Sand- 
wich Islands.  They  settled  upon  the  Caroline 
group  and  there  worked  for  five  years  without 
much  encouragement.  Then  the  boat  called 
the  Morning  Star  was  built  by  money  given  by 
the  Sunday-school  children  of  the  United  States, 
and  this  ship  went  out  to  Micronesia  bearing 
three  new  missionaries,  among  whom  was  Hi- 
ram Bingham,  the  son  of  the  man  of  the  same 
name  who  had  gone  to  Hawaii  in  1819. 

The  missionaries  scattered  their  forces  among 
the  three  larger  groups,  and  Ebon  in  the  Mar- 
shall Islands,  Ponape  and  Kusaie  in  the  Caro- 
line Islands  and  Apaiang  in  the  Gilbert  Islands 
were  occupied  by  mission  families.  Hiram  Bing- 
ham and  his  wife  set  up  a  station  at  Apaiang ; 
that  place  in  which  but  twenty-five  kinds  of 
things  would  grow,  and  where  there  were  still 
fewer  signs  of  any  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
among  the  natives. 

Hiram  Bingham  had  taken  with  him  mate- 
rial for  a  cottage,  and  he  at  once  put  up  his 


186  HEROES    OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

little  house  on  some  land  given  him  by  the 
king.  Then  he  and  his  wife  began  to  learn  the 
language  and  tried  to  give  it  a  written  form, 
and  they  were  very  glad  when  a  small  printing- 
press  was  sent  to  them.  Here,  however,  they 
met  fresh  difficulties,  for  the  types  had  been 
chosen  with  respect  to  the  English  language, 
and  there  were  too  many  d's  and  h's  for  the  Gil- 
bert tongue,  and  not  enough  r's  and  k's.  But 
Mr.  Bingham  was  clever  and  ingenious.  He 
mastered  the  trouble  by  cutting  off  the  tops  of 
the  small  d's  and  turning  them  into  r's,  and  by 
making  a  notch  in  the  little  h's  and  transform- 
ing them  into  k's.  He  did  not  know  much  about 
printing,  either,  but  was  seeking  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  this  thing  that  he  needed  was 
added  unto  him.  Just  about  this  time  an  expert 
printer  was  wrecked  near  this  island  and  he 
came  over  to  Apaiang,  hoping  to  catch  the 
Morning  Star  before  she  should  start  on  her 
homeward  trip.  But  she  had  left  the  place  two 
days  before  his  arrival,  and  so  he  was  laid  hold 
upon  by  the  good  missionary,  and  had  the  honor 
of  directing  the  first  printing  ever  done  in  the 
Gilbert  language. 

During  the  nine  following  years  there  was 
steady  progress  in  the  work  at  all  the  mission 
stations,  in  spite  of  the  disheartening  beginning 
in  Micronesia.  Three  churches  were  started,  and 


MICRONESIA.  187 

there  was  teaching,  preaching  and  translation 
going  on  all  the  time,  and  the  churches  grew 
rapidly.  After  ten  years  of  voyaging  among  the 
islands  the  Morning  Star  was  sold  because  she 
was  becoming  old  and  decrepit ;  but  in  1856  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Bingham  went  home,  and  Mr.  Bingham 
raised  enough  money  to  build  another  one,  and 
as  he  had  been  studying  navigation  meanwhile 
he  set  out  the  next  year  as  captain  of  the  second 
Morning  Star  and  sailed  around  the  Horn  for 
the  third  time.  He  was  in  command  of  the  ves- 
sel for  a  year  and  a  half,  and  journeyed  back 
and  forth  from  Honolulu  to  Apaiang.  This 
vessel,  too,  gave  way  to  another  of  the  same 
name,  as  she  was  wrecked  in  the  year  1859. 

For  various  reasons  there  was  at  this  time 
but  one  white  missionary  in  Micronesia.  This 
was  the  Rev.  E.  T.  Doane  ;  but  in  1871  the  third 
Morning  Star  brought  back  some  of  the  former 
missionaries  and  some  new  native  teachers  from 
Hawaii  for  the  Gilbert  Islands.  In  1873  tne 
Morning  Star  carried  native  missionaries  from 
Ponape  to  the  Mortlock  Islands.  Among  these 
teachers  was  the  Princess  Opatinia,  the  daugh- 
ter of  King  Hezekiah,  the  chief  of  the  island, 
with  her  husband  Opataia.  They  went  forth 
most  joyfully  upon  their  errand  of  love,  wil- 
lingly giving  up  all  the  comforts  and  honors 
and  enjoyments  of  their  homes  for  the  sake 


1 88  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

of  their  needy  neighbors.  Their  letters  were 
eagerly  waited  for  in  the  church  at  Ponape  and 
read  to  attentive  crowds,  ready  to  weep  or  re- 
joice with  those  who  wept  or  rejoiced  on  the  new 
field.  In  less  than  five  years  the  brave  pioneers 
had  established  on  the  Mortlock  Islands  seven 
churches,  with  three  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
members  altogether.  The  natives  were  devoted 
to  these  kind  friends,  built  houses  for  them, 
brought  them  food,  denying  themselves  in  time 
of  famine  so  that  their  teachers  should  not  suf- 
fer want,  and  did  all  their  work  in  order  that 
they  might  have  more  leisure  for  studying  and 
preaching. 

Help  was  next  given  to  the  island  of  Pinge- 
lap.  Six  natives  of  this  island  had  been  brought 
by  a  trader  to  Ponape  as  servants.  When  their 
time  of  service  ended  he  set  them  adrift,  and  in 
their  helpless  condition  they  fell  in  with  a  mis- 
sionary, who  let  them  use  some  native  houses 
and  have  a  little  land  to  cultivate.  He  also  took 
them  into  school,  where  they  became  so  deeply 
interested  that  they  would  often  sit  up  until 
midnight  to  study  by  the  light  of  a  cocoanut- 
oil  lamp.  They  became  Christians,  and  two  of 
them  were  baptized,  under  the  names  of  Thomas 
and  David,  and  then  went  back  to  Pingelap 
with  the  story  of  the  gospel.  At  first  they  met 
a  good  deal  of  opposition  from  their  own  people, 


MICRONESIA.  189 

and  an  old  priest  gathered  a  large  crowd  of 
natives  and  told  them  that  he  would  prove  to 
them  that  this  religion  was  false  by  killing  the 
teachers  by  his  incantations.  But  instead  of 
having  his  charms  work  as  he  had  planned  he 
himself  fell  down  insensible,  and  the  prayers 
of  the  two  whom  he  had  meant  to  destroy 
were  followed  by  his  restoration.  The  people 
declared  that  the  new  faith  had  conquered,  and 
all  went  over  to  that  side.  A  new  teacher  came 
from  Ponape,  and  in  place  of  the  queer  houses, 
that  were  only  thatched  roofs  resting  on  the 
ground,  with  a  hole  in  the  gable  through  which 
the  occupants  scrambled  in  and  out,  there  was 
soon  a  village  of  good  dwellings  with  proper 
doors  and  windows,  and  a  fine  church  that  would 
hold  six  hundred  persons.  One  of  the  two  teach- 
ers who  had  been  first  in  Pingelap  became  the 
pastor,  and  this  little  church,  besides  taking  care 
of  itself,  has  sent  about  $100  every  year  to  the 
American  Board  for  its  missionary  fund. 

In  1874  Mr.  Taylor,  Mr.  Logan  and  Mr.  Rand 
joined  the  missionary  ranks  in  Micronesia,  and 
in  1875  Hiram  Bingham  and  his  wife  went  to 
Honolulu  to  devote  themselves  to  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  into  the  Gilbert  language.  In 
all  parts  of  the  mission  more  attention  was  now 
paid  to  building  up  training-schools  and  educat- 
ing  native  teachers. 


HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

When  the  missionaries  began  work  at  Pon- 
ape  there  were  some  people  there  from  the 
Gilbert  Islands,  among  whom  were  a  man  and  a 
woman  with  their  child,  a  boy  baby.  These 
people  fell  into  a  quarrel  with  the  natives,  and 
the  father  and  mother  of  the  boy  were  killed  in 
battle.  After  the  fight  was  over  the  poor  little 
fellow  was  picked  up  from  the  ground  by  a  wo- 
man of  rank,  who  hid  him  from  his  enemies  for 
a  while  and  then  gave  him  over  to  the  care  of 
one  of  the  missionaries.  He  became  a  Christian, 
as  he  grew  older,  and  thinking  that  his  story 
was  something  like  that  of  Moses  he  was  bap- 
tized under  the  name  of  the  grand  old  leader  of 
the  Israelites.  Then  he  wished  to  start  out  as 
a  missionary.  So  he  was  sent  over  to  the  Mort- 
lock  group,  where  he  stayed  two  years,  gather- 
ing a  church  of  eighty-six  members.  Then  he 
moved  on,  to  another  island,  and  founded  a 
church  of  fifty-seven  members. 

In  1879  he  went  to  the  island  of  Ruk,  where 
there  were  about  ten  thousand  people  sunk  in 
darkness  and  crime ;  but  one  year  brought  a 
wondrous  change  to  the  inhabitants.  When 
the  Morning  Star  stopped  at  Ruk  after  a  twelve 
months'  absence  she  was  welcomed  by  a  crowd 
of  children  clapping  their  hands  and  singing 
Sunday-school  songs.  They  led  the  visitors  that 
had  come  on  the  ship  up  a  pleasant  path  to  the 


MICRONESIA.  IQI 

spot  where  the  teacher's  home  was  nestled  under 
the  trees,  and  pointed  to  the  new  church  build- 
ing not  far  away.  After  that  time,  whenever 
the  Morning  Star  called  at  this  island,  she 
found  that  the  mission  begun  by  Moses  at  Ruk 
was  stepping  along  at  a  steady  pace. 

A  native  teacher  had  been  placed  at  Ape- 
mama  too.  This  was  one  of  the  Gilbert  Islands, 
and  was  in  no  better  condition  in  many  ways 
than  that  other  island  of  Ruk.  In  a  short  time 
he  had  gathered  about  one  hundred  pupils  into 
his  school,  but  he  did  not  find  them  always  easy 
to  manage.  The  king  was  jealous  of  any  one 
who,  he  feared,  knew  more  than  himself,  and 
if  any  of  his  school-mates  went  above  him  in 
the  class  he  would  at  once  order  his  head  to 
be  cut  off,  that  he  himself  might  always  be  first. 
But  the  work  went  on,  and  the  king  learned 
more  justice  and  self-control,  and  cleverness 
was  not  quite  so  dangerous  a  trait  as  it  had 
been.  After  seven  or  eight  years  a  church  of 
seventy-one  members  was  formed,  and  in  ten 
years  there  were  about  three  hundred  persons 
wishing  to  be  added  to  the  roll. 

o 

About  the  year  1882  twelve  natives  of  this 
island  left  home  for  a  short  voyage  over  to  an- 
other group,  but  being  overtaken  by  a  storm 
they  were  driven  far  out  of  their  course,  and 
from  October  to  December  their  vessel  was 


192  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

beating  about  in  the  ocean,  unable  to  make  any 
harbor.  At  last  those  who  survived  were  dis- 
covered, by  the  Northern  Light,  about  six  hun- 
dred miles  distant  from  their  native  land.  All 
the  food  that  remained  to  them  was  a  small 
quantity  of  dried  pulverized  banana,  and  a  few 
bottles  of  cocoanut-oil.  They  had  also  about 
six  gallons  of  water. 

Perhaps  the  sailors  on  the  Northern  Light 
were  a  little  afraid  to  take  in  these  people  from 
a  savage  island,  for  experience  would  have 
taught  them  that  the  natives  whom  they  met 
in  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  were  often  not  the 
most  safe  and  pleasant  companions  in  the  world, 
but,  to  their  surprise,  these  wanderers  seemed 
to  be  devout  Christians. 

No  sooner  were  they  on  board  the  ship  than 
one  of  them  offered  thanks  to  the  One  who  had 
rescued  them  from  their  perilous  position,  and 
then  they  all  hastened  to  express  their  gratitude 
to  these  earthly  friends  who  had  held  out  to 
them  a  helping  hand. 

Owing  to  the  unfavorable  currents,  they 
could  not  be  landed  upon  their  own  shores,  but 
they  were  taken  to  Yokohama,  in  Japan,  where 
the  foreign  residents  were  so  much  pleased  with 
their  looks  and  their  behavior  that  they  raised 
a  sum  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  helping  them 
to  find  their  way  home. 


MICRONESIA.  193 

The  Morning  Star  went  on  its  voyages  year 
after  year,  bearing  missionaries  and  messages 
and  goods  back  and  forth  over  the  water,  and 
carrying  converts  from  one  island  to  another 
as  bringers  of  good  tidings.  As  the  little  mes- 
senger with  its  white  wings  would  approach  the 
shore  of  some  unknown  island  the  natives  would 
run  away  and  hide  themselves  in  the  woods. 
Gradually  growing  a  little  bolder  they  would 
peep  out  from  behind  the  trees,  and  perhaps  a 
few  of  their  bravest  warriors  would  venture  to 
risk  themselves  in  a  canoe  and  steal  out  towards 
the  strange  ship,  from  which  would  be  sent 
to  meet  them  a  native  from  another  island,  so 
that  they  need  not  be  alarmed  at  sight  of  a 
being  too  unlike  themselves.  This  native  would 
tell  them  as  well  as  he  could,  considering  the 
difference  in  dialect  between  various  islands,  that 
there  were  other  countries  in  the  world  besides 
their  own,  and  that  the  people  from  these  coun- 
tries knew  many  marvellous  things  of  which  the 
poor  islanders  had  never  heard,  and  that  they 
were  willing  to  leave  with  them  a  man  who 
would  tell  them  about  all  these  wonders,  and 
would  teach  them  a  great  deal,  and  help  them 
in  many  ways.  If  the  natives  agreed  to  the 
plan  some  teachers  were  set  upon  the  shore  and 
the  ship  would  sail  away,  leaving  the  mission- 
aries  and  their  families  to  their  task. 

Heroes  of  the  South  S«as.  I  ^ 


194  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH  SEAS. 

For  a  whole  year  nothing  is  heard  from  them 
and  they  know  nothing  of  the  outside  world. 
But  when  the  time  draws  near  for  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Morning  Star  on  its  annual  visit 
how  eagerly  and  longingly  beat  the  hearts  of 
these  lonely  teachers  as  they  wait  for  the  cry  of 
"  Sail-ho  !"  from  some  watcher  in  a  tree-top  or 
down  on  the  beach.  Ah,  there  it  is  at  last: 
"Sail-ho!"  The  cry  is  taken  up  by  one  voice 
and  another  until  the  sound  goes  ringing 
through  the  trees.  The  flag  of  the  pretty 
vessel  is  run  up  in  the  breeze,  and  the  salute  is 
answered  by  hats  and  handkerchiefs,  as  well  as 
by  branches  waved  in  the  air.  A  boat  is  launched 
from  the  shore,  and  then  comes  the  joyful  meet- 
ing. It  is  only  to  be  appreciated  by  those  who 
have  been  exiled  so  long  from  home  and  friends. 
There  is  much  to  tell  and  hear  about  on  both 
sides,  and  how  happy  are  the  men  on  the  Morn- 
ing Star  when  they  can  bring  to  these  thirsty 
souls  good  news  from  a  far  country,  and  can 
take  back  pleasant  tidings  of  peace  and  pros- 
perity in  the  mission  work  of  the  island.  Some- 
times, too,  there  would  be  cheering  hints  of 
awakening  from  neighboring  islands,  the  natives 
of  whom  had  sent  word  to  the  missionaries  near 
them,  "  Give  us  teachers,  too,  that  we  may  learn 
the  good  way,  and  stop  fighting." 

After  thirteen  years  of  labor  this  Morning 


MICRONESIA.  195 

Star,  too,  was  tumbled  upon  the  beach  and  brok- 
en to  pieces  in  a  storm.  The  Micronesians  felt 
very  sad  over  this  mishap.  "  Me,  too,  much 
sorry  Morning  Star  broke,"  said  one  of  them. 
'*  No  come  back  to  us  any  more." 

A  barkentine  with  steam  attachment  was 
next  given  to  this  work  in  the  Pacific,  and  it 
made  its  first  voyage  in  1884.  The  figure-head 
was  the  figure  of  a  woman  holding  an  open  Bible 
in  her  hand. 

Within  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  a 
steady  increase  in  the  number  of  converts  and 
of  hearers  in  these  islands  of  Micronesia.  In 
1885  the  Germans  took  possession  of  the  Marshall 
Islands  and  tried  to  seize  the  Carolines  too,  but 
the  Spanish  nation  stepped  up  just  then,  and 
would  not  allow  Spain's  claim  to  be  set  aside. 
The  mission  work  in  the  islands  had  never  been 
in  a  more  hopeful  state  than  at  this  time.  Many 
of  the  chiefs  had  been  baptized,  and  the  evil  of 
kava-drinking  had  been  nearly  rooted  out  of 
Ponape.  The  missionaries  were  sorry  that  the 
native  independence  was  not  respected  and  the 
chiefs  assisted  in  forming  a  government  that 
would  have  been  advantageous  on  all  sides,  but 
the  Spanish  established  themselves  in  Ponape 
and  did  their  best  to  interfere  with  the  work  of 
the  missions.  Schools  were  closed,  and  the 
chiefs  influenced  to  hinder  preaching  and  the 


196  HEROES   OF  THE  SOUTH   SEAS. 

building  of  churches,  and  the  cultivation  of  the 
kava-plant  was  encouraged.  The  intruders  laid 
hold  of  lands  deeded  to  missionaries,  and  when 
Mr.  Doane  objected  to  this  sort  of  robbery  he 
was  arrested  f.nd  imprisoned ;  but  he  was  soon 
set  at  liberty  by  the  governor-general  at  Manilla, 
who  spoke  warmly  of  the  services  of  the  mis- 
sionaries to  the  islands,  and  paid  high  tribute 
to  their  characters.  Soon  afterwards  a  new 
governor  was  sent  to  Ponape,  who  promised 
protection  to  both  the  missionaries  and  the 
natives. 

In  1891,  however,  the  Spaniards  began  to 
make  trouble  again,  and  Mr.  Rand,  who  was  at 
work  in  Ponape,  was  driven  away,  with  his 
fellow-laborers,  and  was  obliged  to  take  refuge 
in  a  neighboring  island.  They  work  as  well  as 
they  can  from  their  present  post,  and  a  fine 
young  native  named  Henry  Naupei,  an  assist- 
ant in  the  training-school  in  Ponape,  does  won- 
derfully well  in  their  place.  He  preaches  and 
teaches,  and  makes  tours  round  the  island 
cheering  the  Christians,  and  helping  them  to 
stand  fast  in  the  faith  in  spite  of  all  opposition. 
Sometimes  the  missionaries  call  at  the  island, 
and  the  young  teacher  comes  out  to  their  ship 
and  a  little  conference  is  held  on  board.  He 
has  recently  written  a  letter  saying  that  the 
native  Christians  mean  to  spread  the  work  just 


MICRONESIA.  197 

as  far  as  they  are  able.     The   German  rule  is 
very  oppressive  on  the  Marshall  Islands. 

On  the  Gilbert  Islands,  Hiram  Bingham  has 
lived  to  see  eleven  churches  on  thirteen  islands, 
and  to  rejoice  in  sixteen  hundred  Christians 
among  those  whom  he  found  savages.  In  the 
spring  of  1893,  after  thirty-four  years  of  toil,  Mr. 
Bingham  had  the  pleasure  of  standing  in  the 
pressroom  of  the  American  Bible  Society  in  New 
York  and  reading  aloud  the  last  verse  in  the 
proof  of  his  completed  translation  of  the  Bible 
in  the  Gilbert  language.  He  then  saw  the  last 
type  set,  and  watched  the  first  revolution  of  the 
roller  that  would  so  far  help  to  send  his  book 
out  in  completed  form.  The  whole  Bible  was 
printed  on  that  day,  and  in  the  afternoon  several 
volumes  were  bound  and  given  as  souvenirs  to 
persons  who  were  present.  This  translation 
will  open  the  Bible  to  about  twenty  thousand 
people.  Hiram  Bingham  is,  so  far  as  is  known, 
the  only  man  who  ever  reduced  a  language  to 
writing,  made  a  vocabulary  and  a  grammar, 
translated  the  whole  Bible  into  that  language, 
revised  all  the  proofs,  and  finally  held  the 
finished  book  in  his  hand.  He  has  now  gone 
back  to  distribute  his  precious  volumes  among 
the  waiting  islanders.  A  new  boat,  called  the 
Hiram  Bingham,  has  recently  been  built  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Gilbert  Islands. 


198  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

The  population  of  Micronesia  is  about  eighty, 
four  thousand.  There  are  forty-six  self-support- 
ing churches  and  forty-three  hundred  members. 
About  fifty  -  thousand  people  have  heard  the 
gospel.  This  work  has  been  done  in  about 
forty  years.  A  strong  missionary  spirit  is  seen 
in  the  churches  in  Micronesia.  It  has  been  re- 
ported that  the  king  of  the  Gilbert  group  has 
been  making  a  missionary  tour  through  his 
kingdom.  That  the  people  are  eager  to  learn 
is  shown  by  this  list  of  books  in  their  own  lan- 
guage carried  them  in  one  cargo,  by  the  Morning 
Star:  750  arithmetics,  250  geographies,  750 read- 
ers, 750  hymn-books,  465  New  Testaments,  and 
205  books  of  Bible  stories. 

Last  year  the  American  Board  called  for 
more  workers  for  Micronesia.  A  man  is  needed 
in  the  Ruk  lagoon,  where  Robert  Logan  has 
lately  died  of  fever.  Robert  Logan  fought  in 
the  civil  war  in  the  United  States,  and  then 
went  out  to  fight  the  Lord's  battle  in  Microne- 
sia, where,  like  a  brave  soldier,  he  fell  on  the 
field,  faithful  to  the  last.  He  was  greatly  loved 
and  admired  both  by  the  missionaries  and  the 
natives.  The  field  is  white  unto  the  harvest. 
Let  us  pray  that  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  will 
send  out  laborers  to  gather  it  in. 


THE  LAND  OF  THE  "CRISP-HAIRED."       199 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   LAND    OF   THE   "  CRISP-HAIRED." 

NEW  GUINEA,  or  Papua,  is  said  to  be  the 
largest  island  in  the  world,  now  that  Australia  is 
counted  as  a  continent.  It  was  discovered  in 
the  sixteenth  century  by  the  Portuguese,  and 
was  called  by  them  New  Guinea,  because  they 
thought  that  it  looked  like  Guinea  in  Africa. 
The  native  name,  Papua,  means  "  crisp-haired." 

New  Guinea  is  about  fourteen  hundred  miles 
long,  and  is  about  four  hundred  miles  wide  in 
some  places.  It  is  a  mountainous  island  covered 
with  forests.  In  the  interior  are  some  very 
high  mountains.  There  are  also  many  swamps, 
and  the  climate  is  warm  and  moist.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  fever  along  the  coast,  and  on  the 
whole  the  country  is  not  a  healthful  one  in 
which  to  live. 

But  there  are  in  New  Guinea  some  rare  and 
wonderful  things  that  make  up  for  some  of  the 
drawbacks.  There  are  many  beautiful  kinds  of 
birds,  from  parrots  and  cockatoos  to  the  bird  of 
paradise  and  the  cassowary,  and  there  are  numer- 
ous sorts  of  insects.  One  traveller  collected  one 
thousand  species  of  beetle  in  one  square  mile,  in 


200  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

three  months'  time.  One  of  the  most  remark- 
able birds  is  the  megapodius,  which  is  about  the 
size  of  a  large  fowl,  with  an  egg  three  and  a  half 
inches  in  length  and  two  inches  in  diameter.  It 
buries  its  eggs  in  high  mounds  built  of  sand, 
loose  earth,  sticks,  leaves,  and  stones,  and  leaves 
them  to  be  hatched  by  the  sun. 

The  population  of  New  Guinea  is  nearly  one 
million.  There  are  two  races  of  people  on  the 
island,  but  the  real  Papuan  is  of  brown  complex- 
ion with  black  hair.  There  are  many  different 
languages  or  dialects  spoken  in  Papua. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  northern  and  western 
parts,  having  come  more  frequently  into  contact 
with  other  people,  are  more  civilized  than  the 
rest  of  the  natives,  and  have  some  good  towns 
with  fine  streets  and  comfortable  houses,  where 
live  the  traders,  planters,  and  fishermen ;  but 
farther  inland  everything  is  nearer  to  a  savage 
state.  The  people  live  in  villages  in  which  the 
houses  have  thatched  roofs  and  the  sides  are 
covered  with  cocoanut  leaves.  Some  of  these 
villages  are  built  over  swamps,  where  the 
streets  are  laid  with  large  trees,  and  the  houses 
are  raised  on  poles  fifteen  feet  high  and  are 
reached  by  ladders.  In  front  of  these  lofty 
dwellings  are  elevated  platforms,  each  one  of 
which  is  enclosed  with  a  fence  that  bounds  a 
gay  garden  bed  blooming  with  tropical  plants 


THE   LAND    OF  THE   "  CRISP-HAIRED."         2OI 

and  flowers.  One  house  is  often  three  hundred 
feet  long,  and  will  hold  all  the  people  of  the  vil- 
lage. Many  of  these  homes  are  lighted  by  the 
burning  of  the  shells  of  the  young  cocoanut,  and 
a  string  of  shells  is  not  seldom  seen  hanging 
above  a  fireplace. 

Long  platforms  slope  up  to  the  temples,  or 
dubus,  as  they  are  called,  and  there  are  bridges 
here  and  there  across  the  creeks.  The  temples 
are  large,  and  are  divided  into  courts  on  each 
side  of  a  long  aisle,  with  the  sacred  place  at  one 
end.  The  partitions  of  the  courts  are  formed  of 
cocoanut  leaves  reaching  to  about  nine  feet  from 
the  floor,  while  curtains  of  sago-palm  fronds 
hang  from  the  roofs  to  the  tops  of  these  lower 
screens.  Inside  the  courts  are  skulls  of  men, 
women,  and  children,  crocodiles,  and  wild  boars, 
some  of  them  carved  and  colored.  There  is 
usually  a  fireplace,  too.  Within  the  inner  sanc- 
tuary are  often  found  queer  figures  carved  out  of 
cane.  They  look  like  fishes,  with  mouths  like 
frogs,  and  they  have  bodies  about  nine  feet  long 
and  seven  broad. 

Some  houses  are  built  directly  over  the 
water,  and  sometimes  the  baby  of  the  family 
will  fall  through  a  crack  in  the  bamboo  floor 
into  the  stream  below,  but  as  the  nurses  all 
know  how  to  swim  he  is  easily  rescued. 

Other  villages  are  on  rich  land,  and  are  sur- 


2O2  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

rounded  by  cocoanut-palms.  Some  houses  are 
perched  in  trees,  with  ladders  for  stairways. 
Altogether,  one  wishing  to  settle  in  New  Guinea 
would  have  a  wide  choice  in  regard  to  the  man- 
ner of  housekeeping  he  would  adopt. 

In  the  interior  of  the  island  the  people  wear 
little  clothing.  In  some  places  the  women  have 
petticoats  of  palm-leaves  dyed  in  various  colors, 
and  both  men  and  women  tattoo  and  paint 
themselves  and  delight  in  decorations  of  all 
sorts.  In  some  tribes  the  hair  is  arranged  in 
two  great  mops,  one  on  each  side  of  the  head ; 
in  others  the  heads  are  cropped  in  odd  patterns, 
square,  circular,  or  triangular  in  shape.  For 
further  ornamentation,  when  they  are  in  full 
dress  some  of  the  natives  adorn  themselves  with 
plumes  of  the  young  palm-fronds,  which  are  fas- 
tened to  their  backs  and  wave  gracefully  over 
their  heads,  while  colored  leaves  are  hung  from 
their  arms,  wrists  and  legs. 

The  natives  about  Port  Moresby,  on  the 
southern  coast,  believe  that  one  of  their  ances- 
tors made  the  earth,  the  sea  and  the  sky,  and 
the  ancestor  of  another  line  of  chiefs  made  man. 
They  believe,  too,  in  a  god  of  fate,  who  deals 
good  and  evil,  success  and  failure,  as  he  may 
please.  A  number  of  villages  are  named  after 
this  god,  and  in  the  planting-season  a  priest  has 
to  go  through  certain  ceremonies  in  order  that 


THE   LAND    OF   THE   "  CRISP-HAIRED."         203 

he  may  be  persuaded  to  grant  good  crops.  If  a 
man  have  a  good  soul  good  comes  to  him,  if  evil 
himself  he  can  expect  nothing  but  evil.  The 
soul  is  called  Tirava,  and  when  it  leaves  the 
body  it  is  supposed  to  travel  to  a  land  far  away 
towards  the  setting  sun  beyond  Cape  Suckling, 
the  last  bold  promontory  to  the  west.  There  the 
sago-palm  grows  in  abundance,  and  anyone  who 
enters  this  delightful  place  may  eat  as  much 
sago  as  he  may  wish.  Some  tribes  believe  in  a 
being  whom  they  call  the  Maker,  and  some  of 
them  say  that  he  once  came  to  earth  as  a  man. 
They  think  that  good  men  after  death  go  to  live 
in  the  Milky  Way,  where  there  are  groves  filled 
with  fruit,  and  joys  of  every  kind  abound. 

When  anyone  dies  the  relatives  blacken  their 
faces  and  cover  themselves  with  ashes,  to  show 
their  grief.  The  women  are  devoted  to  their 
children,  and  mourn  unceasingly  when  a  little 
one  is  taken  away,  and  as  they  have  no  hope  of 
ever  meeting  a  friend  again  in  a  better  world 
they  cling  fondly  to  what  is  left  to  them.  One 
poor  woman  had  all  the  bones  of  a  dead  child 
strung  into  a  necklace,  which  she  wore  as  a 
token  of  love  and  faithfulness. 

The  people  have  an  idea  that  in  sleep  the 
spirit  deserts  the  body  and  wanders  out  to 
meet  other  spirits,  who  whisper  to  it  warnings 
or  promises  of  what  will  take  place  in  the  future. 


204  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

For  this  reason  they  have  great  faith  in  dreams, 
and  order  their  actions  according  to  what  they 
learn  in  this  manner.  If  on  a  journey  they  pass 
a  spot  where  anybody  has  died  they  strike  their 
feet  with  a  stick,  as  a  charm  to  ward  off  an  attack 
of  the  spirit  that  is  hovering  near  and  may  try 
to  stop  their  progress.  The  feathers  of  the  cas- 
sowary are  sometimes  waved  in  the  air  for  the 
same  purpose.  There  are  men  who  pretend  to  call 
up  any  kind  of  weather  that  may  seem  to  them 
desirable  by  conjuring  with  some  small  wooden 
figures,  which  they  have  named  the  makers  of 
heaven  and  earth,  thunder  and  lightning,  south- 
east and  north-west  winds.  These  figures  are 
placed  side  by  side,  and  an  object  shaped  like  a 
sort  of  shuttle-cock  is  held  up  near  them  when 
thunder  is  to  be  summoned  or  driven  away. 
When  wind  is  desired  the  figures  are  placed  in 
the  direction  from  which  it  is  invited  to  come 
and  the  shuttle-cock  is  differently  handled. 

One  of  the  favorite  occupations  of  the  men 
of  New  Guinea  is  fishing  for  dugong.  The  du- 
gong  is  a  fish  that  is  ten  feet  long  and  has  a 
mouth  like  a  horse,  a  head  like  a  pig  and  a  body 
like  a  porpoise.  A  sharp,  jagged  iron  bolt  is  used 
in  spearing  this  fish.  The  spear  shaft  is  fifteen 
feet  long,  and  ends  in  a  round,  heavy  knob  for 
the  purpose  of  carrying  the  weapon  home. 
The  flesh  of  the  dugong  makes  excellent  food. 


THE   LAND    OF   THE   "CRISP-HAIRED."        2O$ 

When  fresh  it  tastes  like  beef  or  veal,  and  when 
cured  like  bacon.  It  is  caught  at  the  new  and 
the  full  of  the  moon,  when  the  high  tides  cover 
the  reefs.  Another  amusement  is  hunting  kan- 
garoos, which  the  Papuans  call  wallabies. 

The  natives  are  very  expert  at  carving.  In 
some  tribes  the  men  accomplish  wonders  with  a 
nail,  a  shell,  or  a  piece  of  sharp  flint.  They  also 
make  pottery,  which  they  barter  for  cocoanuts 
and  sago  with  other  tribes,  going  on  long  voy- 
ages to  the  Gulf  of  New  Guinea  for  the  sake  of 
disposing  of  their  wares.  For  these  trips  they 
build  queer  sort  of  craft  called  lakatois.  They 
tie  several  canoes  together  and  upon  them  place 
a  firm  platform  of  poles  upon  which  a  deck  is 
laid,  and  strong  houses  are  put  up  fore  and 
aft.  Often  new  canoes  are  made  on  the  way, 
and  these  are  added  to  the  vessels,  sometimes 
making  them  so  unwieldy  that  one  or  two  have 
to  be  allowed  to  drift  away.  The  sail  of  a  laka- 
toi  is  formed  from  mats  and  shaped  like  a  large 
shield,  or  the  biggest  claw  of  a  crab.  When  their 
destination  is  reached  the  men  arrange  the  pot- 
tery in  a  row  on  the  beach  and  two  sticks  of 
wood  are  placed  in  each  piece,  one  stick  being 
taken  by  the  buyer,  the  other  by  the  seller.  When 
the  lakatoi  is  about  to  leave  the  village  the  wood 
is  brought  out  and  the  visitors  are  given  a  bundle 
of  sago  for  each  stick  that  they  hold. 


2C>6  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

Among  the  religious  ceremonies  of  New 
Guinea  is  a  dance  connected  with  one  of  their 
sacred  feasts.  The  men  who  are  to  take  part 
in  the  performance  are  called  Kaevakuku,  and 
they  leave  their  homes  and  do  not  see  their  fami- 
lies for  at  least  three  moons  before  the  festival. 
At  the  proper  time,  they  adorn  themselves  with 
masks,  from  two  to  four  feet  high,  like  a  fool's 
cap  with  an  animal's  face.  The  dress  varies 
with  the  tribe.  In  some  of  the  tribes  a  cloak 
two  and  a  half  feet  long  is  worn,  and  a  kilt 
about  eighteen  inches  long,  both  made  from 
the  fibre  of  the  yellow  hibiscus.  Some  of  the 
men  look  like  walking  haystacks.  Food  is  piled 
up  on  the  platforms  in  front  of  the  temples,  and 
is  also  hung  round  on  poles.  The  actors  come 
out  of  the  bush  in  their  costumes  and  masks, 
singly  or  in  groups,  and  dance  about  until  food 
is  given  to  them,  when  they  go  back  again.  The 
masks  are  all  burned  in  one  big  bonfire  at  the 
close  of  the  ceremony. 

The  custom  of  buying  wives  is  not  as  com- 
mon in  New  Guinea  as  in  many  savage  nations, 
but  some  tribes  do  pay  for  this  sort  of  a  blessing. 
One  chief  boasted  proudly  that  his  wife  had 
cost  him  ten  arm-shells,  three  pearl  shells,  two 
strings  of  dogs'  teeth,  several  hundreds  of  cocoa- 
nuts,  a  large  number  of  yams,  and  two  pigs. 

Mission  work  in  New  Guinea  was  begun  in 


THE  LAND   OF  THE   "  CRISP-HAIRED."       2O/ 

1854  by  the  Dutch  missionaries.  They  were 
all  laid  low  by  fever,  again  and  again,  but  they 
held  on  as  long  as  they  could,  until  at  the  close 
of  five  years  every  one  died.  The  Utrecht  Mis- 
sionary Society  sent  out  others  to  take  their 
places,  and  these  men  translated  part  of  the 
New  Testament  into  one  of  the  native  dialects  ; 
but  though  they  started  churches  and  schools, 
and  accomplished  good  in  several  ways,  there 
were  not  half  enough  workers  for  all  that  there 
was  to  be  done.  About  1872  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  came  to  the  help  of  the  laborers 
in  New  Guinea.  Mr.  Murray,  Mr.  MacFarlane, 
and  Mr.  Gill  stepped  over  from  their  fields  in 
the  islands  of  Polynesia  to  plunge  into  toil  in 
Papua.  They  took  with  them  converts  from 
the  Samoan,  Loyalty  and  Savage  Islands,  and 
left  them  to  fight  their  own  way  as  strangers  in 
a  strange  land.  Twelve  were  killed,  but  their 
places  were  instantly  filled  by  willing  recruits, 
and  in  1877  James  Chalmers,  who  had  been  for 
ten  years  in  Rarotonga,  changed  his  post  for  one 
in  New  Guinea.  The  headquarters  of  the  New 
Guinea  Mission  were  about  that  time  removed 
to  Murray  Island.  The  eastern  part  of  the  mis- 
sion was  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  W.  G. 
Lawes  and  the  stations  in  the  western  portion 
of  the  Gulf  of  New  Guinea  were  watched  over 
by  the  Rev.  S.  Macfarlane.  There  were  be- 


2O8  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

sides  fifteen  Polynesian  teachers,  and  ten  more 
went  with  Mr.  Chalmers  and  Mr.  Macfarlane 
to  plant  missions  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  pen- 
insula. They  found  a  place  that  suited  them 
for  a  station  on  Stacey's  Island,  not  far  from 
the  main  land.  The  natives  were  friendly,  and 
gave  the  newcomers  half  of  the  largest  house 
in  the  village  to  live  in  while  they  were  build- 
ing a  home  for  themselves,  in  a  pleasant  spot 
in  a  grove  of  bread-fruit  trees.  In  1878  Mr. 
Chalmers  had  to  leave  his  wife  at  the  station 
while  he  went  to  Cooktown  for  stores.  He  was 
a  little  afraid  to  have  her  stay  there  without 
him,  but  she  said  bravely,  "  We  came  here  for 
Christ's  sake,  and  he  will  protect  us."  She  was 
ill  while  he  was  away,  but  by  her  tact  and  kind- 
ness she  won  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and 
gained  a  good  deal  of  influence  over  them. 


"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA.         209 

CHAPT  ER   XV. 

"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA. 

AFTER  Mr.  Chalmers  returned  to  his  station  he 
undertook  a  sort  of  Robinson  Crusoe  tour  of  the 
island  with  the  object  of  searching  out  the  most 
healthful  parts  and  choosing  places  where  mis- 
sions might  be  begun. 

He  made  many  friends  on  these  journeys, 
and  opened  the  way  for  future  work.  Then  the 
mission  steamer  Ellengowan  took  him  along 
the  coast  on  a  visit  to  one  hundred  and  five  vil- 
lages, in  ninety  of  which  the  inhabitants  had 
never  before  seen  the  face  of  a  white  man. 
They  must  have  looked  at  this  one  with  great 
curiosity  and  interest,  and  probably  thought  him 
much  too  pale  for  beauty.  At  one  place  he  had 
a  narrow  escape  with  his  life  but  was  saved  by 
the  interference  of  a  friendly  chief.  He  learned 
afterwards  that  the  people  of  that  village  made 
a  point  of  killing  all  strangers. 

About  this  time  Mrs.  Chalmers  became  so 
feeble  that  she  was  obliged  to  go  to  Sydney, 
in  Australia,  and  poor  Mr.  Chalmers  had  to 
work  along  by  himself,  without  her  help,  com- 
panionship or  sympathy.  But  he  did  not  give 

Heroes  of  the  South  Seas.  I  4 


2IO  HEROES   OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

himself  up  to  moping  or  mourning,  but  occu- 
pied himself  in  the  pleasant  task  of  translating 
hymns.  "  We  can  reach  the  people  sooner  by 
singing  the  gospel  than  by  preaching  it,"  he 
said. 

Later  in  the  year  the  John  Williams  came 
along  bringing  more  teachers  from  Polynesia. 
Eight  of  these  men  were  from  the  Loyalty 
group.  As  they  drew  near  the  shore  somebody 
began  to  talk  about  the  dangers  and  the  disa- 
greeable things  that  awaited  them  in  the  shape 
of  climate,  centipedes,  serpents  and  insects. 

"  Hold,"  said  one  of  the  Loyalty  volunteers  ; 
"  are  there  men  there  ?  " 

"  Men  ?  yes  ;  but  they  are  horrible  cannibals. 
They  will  probably  kill  and  eat  us  in  the  twink- 
ling of  an  eye." 

"  Never  mind,"  returned  the  other  man ; 
"  that  settles  it.  Wherever  there  are  men,  there 
are  missionaries  bound  to  go."  So  on  they 
sailed. 

In  1879  ^rs-  Chalmers  grew  rapidly  worse 
and  finally  died  in  Sydney.  Mr.  Chalmers  had 
started  to  go  to  her,  and  only  learned  of  her 
death  by  picking  up  a  newspaper  while  on  his 
journey  and  reading  there  the  notice  that  told 
him  that  he  should  never  see  her  again  in  this 
world. 

After  the  death  of  his    wife   Mr.    Chalmers 


"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA.         211 

moved  to  Port  Moresby  and  made  that  town 
his  central  station.  In  1880  he  decided  to  de- 
vote six  weeks  to  exploring  the  country  be- 
hind the  mountains  called  the  "  Owen  Stanley 
Range."  He  made  up  a  party  and  sent  on  ahead, 
by  some  natives  going  in  that  direction,  a  large 
supply  of  food,  and  articles  for  barter,  keeping 
only  enough  of  both  kinds  of  things  for  the 
western  part  of  the  trip,  which  would  take  six 
months  of  hard  walking.  He  could  find  few 
carriers,  so  he  and  his  friends  had  to  trudge 
along  under  the  burning  sun  laden  with  their 
own  burdens.  It  is  this  difficulty  of  carrying 
that  has  prevented  much  exploration  in  New 
Guinea. 

The  country  was  very  rough.  Often  the  trav- 
ellers had  to  wade  for  hours  in  a  stream  and  they 
scrambled  through  many  mountain  torrents. 
At  last  they  reached  a  village  built  on  the  top  of 
a  large  table-rock  and  surrounded  by  a  high  bar- 
ricade. They  encamped  for  the  night  on  the 
side  of  a  hill  at  the  foot  of  which  flowed  a  river. 
In  the  morning  they  put  a  raft  together  to  carry 
them  down  this  river,  but  before  long  they  were 
upset  and  had  to  crawl  out  of  the  water  to  the 
shore,  where  they  built  large  bonfires  with 
which  to  warm  and  dry  themselves.  The  next 
day  they  hired  a  canoe  at  a  village  and  sailed 
twenty  miles,  to  the  home  of  one  of  the  teachers. 


212  HEROES  OF   THE  SOUTH    SEAS. 

Altogether  they  had  passed  over  five  hundred 
miles  and  climbed  forty  thousand  feet 

Mr.  Chalmers'  next  expedition  led  him  along 
the  coast  towards  the  west,  where  he  preached 
in  some  places  and  gained  a  good  many  new  ac- 
quaintances among  the  natives.  In  1881  the 
church  at  Port  Moresby  was  opened  and  the 
first  three  converts  were  baptized.  The  natives 
called  Mr.  Chalmers  "  Tamate,"  which  means 
teacher,  and  they  had  great  confidence  in  him. 
He  heard,  in  some  way,  that  some  savage  chiefs 
from  the  western  part  of  the  island  were  form- 
ing plans  to  fall  upon  the  mission  station,  kill 
Mr.  Chalmers  and  the  teachers,  and  then  attack 
the  natives.  These  chiefs  were  a  terror  all  along 
the  shore  and  were  a  great  hindrance  to  the  work 
of  the  missionaries,  so  Mr.  Chalmers  made  up 
his  mind  to  go  to  meet  these  wild  warriors  on 
their  own  ground  and  see  what  he  could  do  with 
them.  Some  of  the  natives  were  afraid  to  go 
with  him  on  so  dangerous  an  errand,  but  one  of 
the  baptized  converts  and  several  other  men 
were  glad  to  accompany  him.  "  It's  all  right," 
they  said,  "  if  we  go  with  Tamate.  We'll  soon  be 
back  with  sago  and  betel-nuts ;  or,  anyway,  if 
Tamate  lives  we  shall  live,  and  if  he  is  murder- 
ed we  shall  be  murdered,  too.  We  will  go  with 
Tamate." 

All  along  the  way  the  friendly  natives  tried 


"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA.         213 

to  stop  the  party  by  warnings,  and  by  promises 
of  presents  if  these  rash  adventurers  would  but 
turn  back.  But  nothing  could  persuade  Tamate 
and  his  followers  to  give  up  the  expedition,  as 
the  safety  of  the  mission  was  at  stake. 

At  last  the  village  of  the  robber  chieftains 
was  reached  and  the  men  were  invited  to  en- 
gage in  a  sort  of  conference.  They  agreed  to 
the  plan,  and  Tamate  beguiled  them  into  mak- 
ing peace  and  obtained  from  them  a  promise 
that  they  would  not  molest  their  neighbors. 
Mr.  Chalmers  held  a  service  for  them  besides. 
To  be  sure,  they  ran  away  as  fast  as  they  could 
go  when  he  began  to  pray,  but  they  were  lured 
back  by  the  singing,  and  they  listened  attentive- 
ly to  his  words  and  to  those  of  a  brother  chief 
who  had  come  with  him. 

Not  long  afterwards  Mr.  Chalmers  made  an- 
other effort  to  spread  his  mission  a  little  farther 
westward,  and  in  spite  of  wars  and  disturbances 
among  the  various  tribes  he  managed,  by  his 
grace  of  manner  and  his  skill  and  tact  with  the 
natives,  to  keep  them  from  destroying  one  an- 
other and  to  draw  them  into  the  work  of  start- 
ing stations.  At  one  place,  where  everything 
was  just  ready  to  boil  over  into  a  deadly  fight,  he 
stepped  in,  smoothed  over  the  trouble,  calmed 
both  sides  and  brought  back  good  feeling.  One 
of  the  men  who  had  gone  with  him  said,  admir- 


214  HEROES  OF   THE   SOUTH    SEAS. 

ingly  :  "  As  the  sun  shines,  so  do  you.  Such  a 
thing  as  you  have  now  done  has  never  before 
been  done  on  this  coast,  and  it  is  only  by  the 
gospel  of  peace  that  it  could  be  done."  Then 
all  the  crew  joined  in,  as  a  sort  of  chorus,  with 
"  True,  true,  very  true." 

They  had  a  very  good  name  for  the  mission- 
aries, these  simple-hearted  natives.  They  called 
them  "  God's  men." 

On  Mr.  Chalmers'  next  journey  westward  he 
found  some  of  the  men  from  Port  Moresby  on 
a  trading  voyage  to  the  village  of  the  robber 
chieftains.  They  told  him  that  they  had  not 
forgotten  their  training  at  the  mission,  though 
they  were  so  far  from  home.  They  always  asked 
God's  blessing  upon  their  food,  and  held  services 
morning  and  evening.  One  of  the  men  had  a 
bell,  which  he  rang  around  the  village  to  tell  the 
people  of  the  meetings,  and  many  of  them  had 
come  in  to  share  in  the  service.  The  converts 
had  kept  Sunday  in  mind  by  tying  every  day 
a  knot  in  a  cord ;  when  they  had  counted  as  far 
as  seven  they  would  stop  work  for  a  day  of 
rest. 

In  1883  Mr.  Chalmers  joined  a  party  going 
to  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  in  a  lakatoi  on  a  trading 
voyage.  From  the  coast  lie  walked  inland  to 
one  of  the  villages  over  the  swamps,  where  the 
people  had  heard  of  him  and  asked  for  a  visit. 


"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA.        215 

He  was  kindly  received,  and  put  in  one  of  the 
temples  to  sleep  among  the  carved  skulls  and 
other  objects  that  were  pleasant  reminders  that 
he  was  among  cannibals.  In  the  evening  he 
sat  out  on  the  balcony  and  watched  the  scene 
about  him.  The  dark  temple  was  lighted  by 
the  flickering  firelight  within,  while  below  him 
a  crowd  of  savages  was  gathered  around  the 
teachers,  among  whom  was  that  man  who  had 
been  one  of  the  first  church  members  at  Port 
Moresby,  and  another  man  who  had  been  a  fierce 
and  warlike  chief.  The  teachers  were  telling 
of  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  savages 
were  listening  with  great  interest.  They  had, 
indeed,  so  many  questions  to  ask  at  the  close  of 
the  little  sermon  that  the  strangers  were  kept 
talking  all  night.  When  Mr.  Chalmers  met  his 
friends  in  the  morning  he  said,  "  Well,  Arua, 
have  you  been  at  it  all  night?"  "  Oh,  yes,  Tarn- 
ate,"  answered  the  poor  fellow,  who  was  so 
hoarse  that  he  could  hardly  speak.  "  When  I 
lay  down  they  would  come  with  more  questions, 
so  I  'd  have  to  get  up,  and  explain  again.  But 
never  mind  :  I  must  tell  them  of  Jesus  Christ." 
When  Mr.  Chalmers  was  ready  to  leave  the 
men  gathered  round  him,  begging  him  to  sing 
as  much  as  he  could  before  going  away :  "  Xo 
more  fighting,  Tamate,"  they  said.  '  Xo  more 
man-eating.  We  have  heard  good  new?,  and 


2l6  HEROES  OF  THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

we  shall  strive  for  peace."  "  Now  sing  to  us," 
added  the  women  as  he  departed,  "  so  that  when 
Tamate's  face  is  lost  we  may  hear  his  voice,  and 
weep  that  he  so  soon  leaves  us."  "  Tamate,  come 
back  soon,  very  soon,"  they  all  cried  in  chorus  ; 
"  do  not  disappoint  us,  and  we  will  bring  you 
everywhere  upon  the  rivers." 

The  voyagers  had  a  high  sea  and  a  strong 
wind  during  most  of  the  return  journey,  but  they 
arrived  in  safety  at  Port  Moresby  on  the  first  of 
November. 

In  January  of  the  next  year  the  teachers 
and  the  converts  from  east  and  from  west  gath- 
ered at  Port  Moresby  for  a  sort  of  thanksgiving 
celebration.  Services  were  held  on  New  Year's 
eve,  and  on  New  Year's  morning  there  was  a 
meeting  for  prayer  and  praise  at  half-past  five 
o'clock.  Then  every  body  fell  to  work  at  prep- 
arations for  dinner.  When  everything  was  in 
the  oven  the  people  assembled  for  the  great 
service  of  the  occasion,  and  then  came  the  feast. 
The  following  day  the  teachers  met  quietly  and 
talked  over  their  work  together. 

In  February  the  John  Williams  appeared 
once  more,  bringing  thirteen  new  teachers,  who 
were  stationed  in  various  places.  Then  Mr. 
Chalmers  set  out  in  the  Ellengowan  for  another 
cruise  to  the  west,  where  lived  the  wildest  but 
really  the  noblest  people  of  New  Guinea,  who 


"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA.         217 

needed  the  youngest,  strongest,  bravest,  and 
brightest  teachers.  They  always  asked  for  "  big 
men."  "  Pick  the  giants  for  them,"  Mr.  Chal- 
mers said,  "  and  they  will  make  their  mark  at 
once." 

On  the  way  he  called  at  many  old  stations, 
where  he  noticed  with  pleasure  all  signs  of  pro- 
gress,  and  he  visited  new  places  also  where  he 
hoped  soon  to  begin  work.  Then  he  went  to 
the  east  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  and  came  back 
much  encouraged  by  the  growth  that  he  saw 
there.  In  this  year  the  British  Government 
established  a  protectorate  over  the  unannexed 
portion  of  New  Guinea. 

In  1886  there  was  good  news  from  all  the 
stations  along  the  coast.  In  August  Mr.  Chal- 
mers returned  to  England,  where  he  received  a 
hearty  welcome,  and  people  thronged  to  hear 
him  tell  of  what  he  had  seen  and  heard  in  great, 
neglected  New  Guinea.  In  1887  ne  was  sent 
back  by  the  governor  of  Victoria  to  continue  his 
explorations.  A  new  ship  has  been  recently 
called  for  by  the  London  Missionary  Society,  for 
use  in  New  Guinea,  the  cost  of  which  will  be 
$16,000,  with  an  additional  sum  of  $1,500  for 
running  expenses. 

Two  hundred  and  five  teachers  have  gone  to 
New  Guinea  from  Samoa,  Savage  Island  and 
Rarotonga,  and  from  the  Fiji  and  Loyalty 


2l8  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

groups.  One  hundred  and  three  have  died, 
been  killed,  or  had  to  go  home  on  account  of 
the  climate,  but  volunteers  have  never  been 
wanting  to  fill  up  the  gaps.  When  fifteen  men 
were  asked  for  lately  forty  men  offered  them- 
selves for  the  service,  and  the  matter  of  which 
ones  should  stay  at  home  had  to  be  decided  by 
lot. 

There  are  now  stations  six  hundred  miles 
along  the  coast.  There  are  seventy  stations  on 
the  mainland,  and  altogether  there  are  five  thou- 
sand converts.  Six  languages  have  been  re- 
duced to  writing,  books  have  been  published, 
and  there  is  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
in  Motu,  the  speech  of  the  trading-people  on  the 
southeast  coast. 

In  the  meeting  of  Christians  at  Port  Moresby 
in  1892  the  collection  for  missions  was  $37  in 
money,  with  spears,  armlets,  bows  and  arrows, 
drums,  necklaces,  and  ornaments.  All  these 
things  have  marketable  value  as  curios. 

At  one  of  their  services  one  of  the  natives 
picked  up  a  spear  and  said,  "  This  used  to  be 
our  constant  companion  :  we  dared  not  go  to  our 
gardens  without  it ;  we  took  it  in  our  canoes  ;  we 
carried  it  on  our  journeys ;  we  slept  with  it  by 
our  sides,  and  we  took  our  meals  with  it  close  at 
hand  ;  but."  he  continued,  holding  up  a  copy  of 
the  gospel,  "  we  can  now  sleep  safely  because  of 


"GOD'S  MEN"  IN  NEW  GUINEA.         219 

this.  This  book  has  brought  us  peace  and  protec- 
tion, and  we  no  longer  require  the  spear." 

Altogether  in  Polynesia  there  are  now  seven 
thousand  missionaries  and  forty  thousand  native 
helpers.  There  are  about  three  hundred  and 
fifty  islands  more  or  less  fully  evangelized,  and 
the  Bible,  in  whole  or  in  part,  has  been  translat- 
ed into  fifty  languages. 

The  London  Missionary  Society  asks  for 
$80,000  with  which  to  provide  a  new  vessel  for 
the  South  Seas,  and  a  fourth  "  John  Williams  "  is 
about  to  be  sent  out ;  so  the  name  of  the  "  Apos- 
tle of  the  Pacific  "  is  not  likely  to  be  speedily 
forgotten. 

And  so  all  up  and  down  in  the  South  Seas 
have  these  Heroes  of  the  Cross  told  the  sweet 
old  story,  and  still  is  "  the  good  word  of  the 
kingdom  "  passed  on  from  island  to  island. 

May  the  One  who  began  the  work,  and  who 
has  kept  it  on  its  way  all  through  these  long 
years,  never  let  it  falter  until  the  multitude  of 
isles  shall  be  glad  because  the  Lord  reign eth, 
and  the  inhabitants  thereof  shall  every  one  have 
heard  the  good  tidings  that  a  Saviour  has  been 
born  into  the  world. 

So  at  the  last  may  all  join  in  the  chorus, 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth 
peace,  good  will  to  men." 


220  HEROES   OF   THE   SOUTH   SEAS. 

"  The  Son  of  God  goes  forth  to  war, 

A  kingly  crown  to  gain  ; 
His  blood-red  banner  streams  afar ; 

Who  follows  in  his  train  ? 
Who  best  can  drink  his  cup  of  woe, 

Triumphant  over  pain, 
Who  patient  bears  his  cross 

He  follows  in  His  train." 


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